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VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 


REPORT 





OF THE 


COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY 
UNITED STATES SENATE 


SIXTY-SECOND CONGRESS 


ON 


SENATE BILL 3 


A BILL TO COOPERATE WITH THE STATES IN ENCOURAGING IN¬ 
STRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE, THE TRADES AND INDUSTRIES, 
AND HOME ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS; IN MAIN¬ 
TAINING INSTRUCTION IN THESE VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS 
IN STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS; IN MAINTAINING EXTEN¬ 
SION DEPARTMENTS IN STATE COLLEGES OF AG¬ 
RICULTURE AND MECHANIC ARTS; AND TO 
APPROPRIATE MONEY AND REGU¬ 
LATE ITS EXPENDITURE 


Printed for the uee of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1912 






















COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, 

United States Senate. 


HENRY E. BURNHAM, New Hampshire, Chairman. 


FRANCIS E. WARREN, Wyoming. 
GEORGE C. PERKINS, California. 
SIMON GUGGENHEIM, Colorado. 
CARROLL S. PAGE, Vermont. 

COE I. CRAWFORD, South Dakota. 
WILLIAM O. BRADLEY, Kentucky. 
WILLIAM LORIMER, Illinois. 

ASLE J. GRONNA, North Dakota. 


n 


JOHN H. BANKHEAD, Alabama. 
THOMAS P. GORE, Oklahoma. 
GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN, Oregon 
ELLISON D. SMITH, South Carolina. 
LE ROY PERCY, Mississippi. 

HOKE SMITH, Georgia. 

OBADIAH GARDNER, Maine. 


Edward I. Littlefield, Clerk. 
Charles D. Barnard, Assistant Clerk, 


o. nr ft 
16 191 ? 



j\|*>CaIendar No. 348. 

62 d Con^r^s, ) SENATE. j Report 

2d Session. j | No. 405. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


February 26, 1912.—Ordered to be printed. 


Mr. Page, from the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, sub¬ 
mitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany S. 3.] 

The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, having had under 
consideration the bill (S. 3) to cooperate with the States in encourag¬ 
ing instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home 
economics in secondary schools; in maintaining instruction in these 
vocational subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining extension 
departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; and 
to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure, reports the same 
favorably with amendments, and as amended recommend that the bill 
do pass. 

The bill as amended by this committee may be found at page 69 of 
this report. 

The report of the subcommittee to whom the bill was referred, con¬ 
taining as it does the results of a somewhat extended correspondence 
with superintendents of public instruction and others directly inter¬ 
ested in educational work along agricultural and industrial lines, is 
appended hereto and made a part of this report. 

The report of the subcommittee is as follows: 

To the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry: 

On the 14th day of August, 1911, your committee, having under 
consideration Senate bill 3, viz, “A bill to cooperate with the States 
in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, 
and home economics in secondary schools; in maintaining instruc- 

l 







2 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


tion in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in main¬ 
taining extension departments in State colleges of agriculture and 
mechanic arts; and to appropriate money and regulate its expendi¬ 
ture,” 

“ Resolved , That Senator Page, as a subcommittee of one, be 
instructed to correspond with leading educators and others 
interested in the purposes of the proposed measure, and to 
report to the full committee the result of his investigation, and 
to submit a bill amended to conform to the suggestions he 
may receive from such correspondence or any he might have 
to make. 

“And that the committee approves the general purposes of 
the bill ” 

In conformity with these resolutions, letters were written to the 
State superintendents of public instruction in every State, inviting a 
careful examination and criticism of the bill and requesting such sug¬ 
gestions as to amendments as would, in their judgment, perfect the 
bill and make it articulate with the school laws and school conditions 
of the several States. 

Letters were also written to a large number of prominent educators 
in every section of the Union, inclosing a copy of the bill and asking 
their advice as to amendments which would perfect or improve the 
measure. 

The response to these letters was quite general. In a very large 
majority of the replies the indorsements of the measure were unquali¬ 
fied and in many cases enthusiastic. Wherever local conditions 
seemed to demand amendments they were suggested, and only from a 
very few States were replies received which indicated disapproval ol 
the general purposes of the bill. 

Letters asking for suggestions of amendments were addressed not 
only to State superintendents of public instruction, but to the gov¬ 
ernors of the several States, to the heads of State agricultural colleges, 
and to men of known prominence in educational affairs in various 
walks of life, including editors of newspapers devoted to the trades 
and industries. 

Replies were received from every State in the Union, except 
Wyoming. 

With less than a half dozen exceptions, the replies received from 
State superintendents of public instruction were favorable—most of 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


3 


them enthusiastically so. A few were qualifiedly favorable, but sug¬ 
gested changes in the administrative features or in some of the less 
important details. Only two were unqualifiedly opposed to the bill. 

A symposium giving brief extracts from letters received is here¬ 
with submitted and made a part of this report. Some of the opinions 
expressed at public hearings had before the Committee on Agriculture 
and Forestry in 1910 are also included. 

Senators are earnestly urged to read the views of these educators 
as given in the symposium. Inasmuch as this matter was obtained 
pursuant to the committee’s instructions, it was deemed proper to 
make it a part of its report. This symposium is replete with facts 
vital to a proper consideration of this great educational and industrial 
problem, and no one can read it without reaching the conclusion that 
public sentiment is thoroughly aroused to the necessity of the passage 
of this or similar legislation and that the General Government must 
proceed to blaze the trail in this matter or our progress along these 
all-important educational lines will be spasmodic, disjointed, inef¬ 
fective, and extravagant. 

Numerous organizations and associations throughout the country, 
having for their object the betterment of educational conditions, have 
placed their seal of approval upon this measure by adopting resolu¬ 
tions giving the bill practically unqualified indorsement. That the 
committee may be advised of the state of public sentiment as shown 
by these resolutions, it has been thought best to incorporate them in 
this report. 

That this proposed legislation transcends all political lines is shown 
by the following quotations from President Taft, ex-President Roose¬ 
velt, Gov. Harmon, and the platform of the Democratic Party. 

President Taft, in an address delivered by him at Kansas City Sep¬ 
tember 25 last, says: 

“The welfare of the people is so dependent on improved agri¬ 
cultural conditions that it seems wise to use the welfare clause 
of the Constitution to authorize the expenditure of money for 
improvement in agricultural education, and leave to the States 
and to private enterprise general and other vocational education.’’ 

Ex-President Roosevelt says: 

“The passage of this bill would merely be putting into effect 
that cardinal American doctrine of furnishing a reasonable 
equality of opportunity of education and chance of develop- 


4 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


ment to all our children, wherever they live and whatever may 
be their station in life. Such a Federal cooperation in technical 
education will help in many ways. It will mean much for 
country life, for the life of the family farm, for the life of those 
city workers who seek landed homes in the country near the 
city in which they work. It will mean much along the lines of 
the great policy of the conservation of the natural resources of 
our land. Finally, it will mean much to the nation of the future, 
because it will represent the effort to give exact justice and an 
equal opportunity for development to each of the boys and 
girls who in the future are to make up the Nation. 

“Industrial training, training which will fit a girl to do work 
in the home, which will fit a boy to work in the shop if in a 
city, to work on a farm if in the country, is the most important 
of all training aside from that which develops character, and it 
is a grave reproach to us as a nation that we have permitted 
our training to lead the children away from the farm and shop 
instead of toward them. 

“The school system should be aimed primarily to fit the 
scholar for actual life rather than for a university. 

“I thoroughly believe that our people approve of the higher 
education, but I also believe that they are growing more and 
more to demand a reform in secondary schools which should 
fit the ordinary scholar for the actual work in life. 

“I believe that the National Government should take an 
active part in securing better educational methods, in accord¬ 
ance with some such system as that outlined in the bill. 

“It is not my place to. speak of the details of such a bill, but 
in a general way I feel that the Nation should, by making appro¬ 
priations, put a premium upon industrial and especially agricul¬ 
tural training in the State schools, the States themselves being 
required in these schools to contribute what is necessary for the 
ordinary training. 

******* 

“All this simply means that the Nation ought to cooperate 
with the State to help the people help themselves through better 
educational facilities, the schools being left wholly and directly 
under the control of the people through their local authorities, 
but suggestions and general oversight, as well as improvement 
being supplied by the experts employed by the Nation.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


5 

Gov. Harmon, in an article on “Back to the Land/’ says: 

“The average yield of all farm products in this great agricul¬ 
tural country is not creditable. She makes a poor showing in 
comparison with other nations, poorer in that than in any other 
industry. 

“The figures in the reports taken from the official records of 
Germany, England, France, and the Netherlands show that they 
raise from two to two and a half and three times more of all sorte 
of products to the acre than we do, and they have no better sol 
and no better climate. God has not smiled more brightly on 
any other land than ours. 

“We have the soil, we have the rainfall, we have the climate. 
You can trust nature to produce if you give nature the chance. 
And yet, while all other lines of our industries have received a 
great impetus from intelligent thought, agriculture seems to have 
been largely passed by. Too widely the idea prevails that all a 
man has to do is to scratch the ground, throw some seed into it, 
plow once in a while, and trust the Lord to do the rest. 

“The most productive tiling is practical intelligence properly 
applied, and this must be done in agriculture as well as any¬ 
thing else. 

“What is the reason that the little country of France, which 
is not as big as one State in the American Union, could pay 
that enormous war indemnity to Germany, which everybody 
thought would break her up, an>d in 20 or 25 years after be 
the great creditor nation that she is to-day ? 

“They have 45,000 agricultural schools in France, eveiy 
one of them with a little plat around it, where they not merely 
teach boys out of books but send them to the field to leam 
what must be done to make things grow under the smile of 
God; and the result is that France is the greatest producer 
and the greatest creditor nation in the world to-day, while we 
are just beginning to wake up in this country.” 

The Democratic national convention, held at Denver in 1908, 
incorporated into its platform the following plank: 

“The Democratic Party favors the extension of agricultural, 
mechanical, and industrial education. We therefore favor the 
establishment of district agricultural experiment stations and 


G 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


secondary agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several 
States.” 

That associations standing for the welfare of the laboring man are 
agreed as to the advisability of this legislation is shown by the 
following utterances of the National Association of Manufacturers 
on the one hand and the American Federation of Labor on the other. 

The National Association of Manufacturers at its sixteenth annual 
meeting, held in New York City May 15, 16, and 17, 1911, resolved: 

“That this association earnestly devote itself, with reasonable 
outlay of funds, to the promotion of industrial education, to the 
end that such education may be made available, as soon as 
possible, to every child who needs it. 

“ Resolved , That we favor the establishment in every com¬ 
munity of continuation schools wherein the children of 14 to 18 
years of age, now in the industries, shall be instructed in the 
science and art of their respective industries and in citizenship. 

The American Federation of Labor, speaking through its president, 
Samuel Gompers, says: 

“Under this proposed law the Federal Government, the States, 
and the local communities would be united in a cooperative 
movement to place within the reach of every boy and girl in 
the country the opportunity of securing both a general and a 
vocational education. The public high schools, which are mainly 
in our cities, would receive 15,000,000 and the 300 to 400 agri¬ 
cultural high schools distributed throughout the farming regions 
$4,000,000. Probably one-third the total sum appropriated 
would be used for the mechanical trades and industries, one- 
third for instruction of girls in home making, and one-third for 
agriculture. The $1,000,000 proposed in this bill for State nor¬ 
mal schools is in addition to the $1,000,000 provided by the 
Nelson amendment of 1907 for use by the State colleges in the 
preparation of teachers of industrial subjects, provision thus 
being made to teach the teachers. 

“The prosperity of a nation depends upon its industrial and 
commercial success, and in respect to these, success depends upon 
the training and intelligence of its citizens. It is therefore 
plainly evident that a national educational system determines 
its destiny. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


7 


“Tlie compilation of statistics relating to the period of school 
attendance by the young of the country, the study of these sta¬ 
tistics, and the result of the limited attendance of so large a pro¬ 
portion of the school population which they have disclosed, have 
attracted the attention not only of men engaged in educational 
effort but the people generally. The fact that so large a pro¬ 
portion of the boys in the United States are leaving school at or 
before the completion of an elementary course of instruction, 
that the major portion of them are subsequently to earn a living 
by the work of their hands, that at an early age they seek em¬ 
ployment largely in unskilled industries because they are fitted 
for nothing better and because they are too young to enter 
upon the work of apprentices, even were that possible, and that 
the prospects of emergence from unskilled to skilled industries 
is so small, is attracting attention to the problem and demand¬ 
ing solution.” 

It is probably true that there is no class of our people more earnest 
in their demands for this bill than the farmers. So far as known, 
they are absolutely unanimous in urging its passage. Among the 
recognized mouthpieces of the farmers, speaking as a body, is the 
National Grange, which,' at its last meeting, in Columbus, Ohio, 
passed the following resolution: 

“Resolved, That the National Grange in forty-fifth annual 
session assembled does hereby indorse the Page bill, Senate 
bill 3, to provide for vocational education in secondary schools, 
the training of teachers for these schools, agricultural extension, 
and agricultural demonstration.” 

The International Dry Farming Congress, at its annual gathering 
at Colorado Springs, October 16-20, 1911, unanimously adopted the 
following resolutions: 

“This congress reiterates the conviction voiced by former 
congresses in favor of financial Federal aid for rural education 
and agricultural extension, the same to be expended exclusively 
by the several States in the interests of agriculture, home eco¬ 
nomics, and the mechanic aits, and for preparing teachers 
for the same, and, as far as possible, to make use of the 
organizations now established in the several States. This 
congress urges upon its members that they use all legitimate 


8 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


influence to the end that the coming session of the Congress of 
the United States may witness the enactment into law of a 
comprehensive plan for agricultural and vocational education 
and training in the common and high schools. 

“ Realizing that the results of agricultural education during the 
past two decades have demonstrated the equal importance of the 
education of the farm women along parallel lines with the education 
of the farmer, and also realizing that the carrying forward of agri¬ 
cultural propaganda, in so far as it relates to the establishment of 
happy, contented homes on all farms; and also realizing that 
home economics is greatly in need of experimental data for the 
systematizing of its field, this congress heartily indorses the bill 
now pending before the United States Senate which provides for 
a permanent annual appropriation to each State experiment sta¬ 
tion for the purpose of conducting original or confirmatory ex¬ 
periments dealing with the whole field of home economics, and 
requests our respective Senators and Representatives to urge 
this bill for early passage.” 

The American Education and Cooperative Farmers’ Union, at a 
joint meeting in St. Louis with the American Society of Equity, the 
two jointly representing several million farmers, passed a resolution 
approving the provisions of the vocational educational bill, and ear¬ 
nestly urged the Members of the United States Senate and House of 
Representatives to favor the bill. 

While we recognize the fact that industrial and agricultural 
education is a subject in which federations of labor, associations of 
manufacturers, the National Grange, and other organizations of like 
character are deeply interested, it is probably true that men whose 
lives are devoted to educational work are best qualified to speak 
ppon a measure dealing with education. The following are some of 
the more important resolutions adopted by national educational 
associations: 

The National Educational Association at its convention held in 
Boston July 7, 1910, by a unanimous vote of the active members in 
session at that time, resolved— 

“That while the members of this association are of the opinion 
that the old courses of study, which had as their chief object 
the giving of culture to the individual and of transmitting to 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


9 


him the best ideas and ideals of the past, should in no manner 
be weakened, we nevertheless, very sincerely indorse the move¬ 
ment to make the courses of study offered in our schools more 
democratic, that they may meet the conditions of our modern 
commercial and industrial life. However, to meet adequately 
these new demands imposed upon the schools of the country 
additional financial responsibilities, and this association appeals 
to the Nation and to the States for more liberal appropriations 
for educational purposes in order that this' additional work in 
agriculture, in the trades and industries, and home economics 
may be effectively undertaken.” 

At a meeting of leading educators gathered at Washington from 
different sections of the country December 14, 15, and 16, 1911—a 
meeting attended by men of national reputation in educational mat¬ 
ters—the following resolution was unanimously adopted: 

“ Resolved , That the conference of friends of vocational educa¬ 
tion assembled in Washington December 14, 1911, select a com¬ 
mittee on ways and means whose duty it shall be to further the 
interests of the Page bill, Senate bill 3, and to work for its success¬ 
ful passage.’ ’ 

At the recent International Congress of Farm Women, held at 
Colorado Springs, Colo., the following resolution was adopted: 

“ Resolved ,, That this congress indorses the vocational educa¬ 
tion bill now pending in the Congress of the United States 
whereby the States and Nation may combine in a comprehensive 
plan of effective vocational training in secondary schools, through 
which the rural elementary school may be benefited.” 

At a recent meeting of the Southern Educational Association held 
at Houston, Tex., the association adopted a series of resolutions 
demanding that— 

“ agricultural education should have its rightful place in the 
instruction of the rural population, and we heartily commend 
the efforts of the many agencies now at work to give training in 
this and allied subjects to the children in the rural districts”— 
and indorsed unqualifiedly the— 

“bill introduced anew in the United States Senate by Senator 
Page as a measure calculated to promote most effectually and 
practically the secondary industrial training of both races.” 


10 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The National Committee on Agricultural Education, representing 
the departments of public instruction and the normal schools of the 
several States, through its chairman, H. H. Seerley, president of the 
Iowa State College, says: 

“ We take pleasure in tendering you our cooperation and most 
efficient service to keep the matter before the country in the 
fields of education where we have influence. We sincerely hope 
the measure may become law at an early date and that the prog¬ 
ress of practical education may be thereby greatly advanced.” 

II. H. Seerley, president Iowa State Teachers’ College, Cedar Falls, 
Iowa, writes: 

“I take pleasure in informing you that at the recent meeting 
of the American agricultural colleges and experiment stations 
held in Columbus, Ohio, the educators present voted unani¬ 
mously in favor of legislation providing for Federal aid in instruc¬ 
tion in the public and secondary schools in agriculture, home 
economics, and the trades and industries, including manual train¬ 
ing, and for the education and professional training of teachers 
for these schools in the several States, the plan proposed provid¬ 
ing legislation for these schools in these States and leaving 
further details for the action of State legislatures.” 

At a meeting of the department of superintendence of the National 
Educational Association, held at Indianapolis, a resolution was 
passed that— 

“We favor the encouragement of agricultural education by 
National and State assistance.” 

The National League of Industrial Education, through its presi¬ 
dent, Mr. Herbert Myrick, editor of the Orange Judd weeklies, of 
Springfield, Mass., gives to the measure the following most enthusiastic 
indorsement: 

“The proposed plan of vocational education has been my 
special pride ever since it was suggested. I believe it will do 
more for the welfare of each and every section of the United 
States than any one measure now pending. Each dollar wisely 
expended under this bill will do more for the American people 
than each ten dollars or even each one hundred dollars spent on 
the Army and Navy.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


11 


Perhaps one of the most spirited and interesting hearings devoted 
to educational matters was the one above referred to, held at Wash¬ 
ington, December 14, 15, and 16 last. It was attended not only by 
those who were friendly to the measure, but by several who were 
opposed to some of the administrative and other minor features of 
the bill, among them being Dr. Thompson, president of the Ohio 
State University, and Dean Russell, of the University of Wisconsin. 

The sessions lasted three days, and at the close of the second day's 
proceedings a committee of seven, including Dr. Thompson and Dean 
Russell, was appointed to take up the bill, section by section, in an 
endeavor to see if the measure could be so amended and perfected as 
to eliminate its objectionable features. 

The other members of this committee were Hon. Coe I. Crawford, 
United States Senator from South Dakota; G. G. Dawe, managing 
director of the Southern Commercial Congress; Willet M. Hays, As¬ 
sistant Secretary of Agriculture; Dr. P. P. Claxton, our newly ap¬ 
pointed Commissioner of Education; and Dr. J. H. Connell, president 
of the Oklahoma State Agricultural and Mechanical College. This 
committee gave to the bill several hours of faithful consideration. 

It would be a misstatement to say that the bill came forth from 
that committee in a form entirely satisfactory to all of its members, 
but it was so far satisfactory that when it was reported to the full 
meeting on the following day the resolution above quoted, author¬ 
izing the appointment of a committee to cooperate in the work of 
promoting the passage of the Page bill, was adopted without a dis¬ 
senting voice. 

This committee of seven to whom reference was made was unani¬ 
mous in the opinion that so far as possible the bill should articulate 
with the school laws of the several States, and that in every case it 
should be optional with the States to avail themselves of as many 
features of the bill as were found to dovetail with the educational 
laws of the several States, whether it be in one or all of the directions 
indicated by the bill. 

In conformity with this view, the committee was unanimously 
of the opinion that the bill should be amended by inserting the 
following proviso: 

“ And 'provided further, That any State or Territory may accept 
any one or more of the respective funds hereby appropriated to 


12 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


it, and may defer the acceptance of any one or more of such 
funds, and shall be required to meet only those conditions im¬ 
posed in relation to those funds which it has accepted.’’ 

It will thus be seen that it is entirely optional on the part of any 
State whether it shall or shall not avail itself of the benefits of this 
act, either wholly or in part. 

Again, on the other hand, the leading thought of the bill has not 
for one moment been lost sight of, to wit: That this measure is to 
stimulate and encourage education along industrial and agricultural 
lines and the line of home economics; and after a State has made 
the proper preparation in the way of providing the required build¬ 
ings and farm lands to enable it to take advantage of the act, it 
must then, in addition, appropriate at least as much for these edu¬ 
cational purposes is is contributed by the Federal Government. 

To meet this view of the bill, the following amendment was pro¬ 
posed and unanimously agreed to, to wit: At the end of section 6 
add, “and from and after the fiscal'year ending June thirtieth, nine¬ 
teen hundred and sixteen, there shall in no case be allotted, under the 
terms of this act, to any school, college, course of study, or for any 
other purpose contemplated by this act, more money than is supplied 
therefor by the State.” 

While the bill has been made as elastic as possible, to the end that 
its provisions may conform to the educational conditions in the sev¬ 
eral States as perfectly as is practicable, nevertheless the utmost care 
has been taken to see that the funds appropriated by this act shall 
not be diverted to the general educational work of the several States, 
nor be used for the purchase or rental of either land or buildings. 
It is thought that this feature of the bill is satisfactorily safeguarded 
by the following provision: 

“That all the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia 
accepting these funds shall provide other funds with which to pay 
the cost of providing the necessary lands and buildings, and to pay 
the cost of all instruction in secondary schools, normal schools, 
and agricultural and mechanical colleges in such other and genera 
studies as shall complete well-rounded courses, as provided in 
this act, the main purposes of which are to give vocational as 
well as general preparation for agriculture, the trades and indus¬ 
tries, and home making, and for the preparation of teachers in 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 13 

these subjects suited to the needs of the respective sections and 
communities of the United States.” 

The bill contemplates night courses of instruction for those boys 
and girls who, after reaching the seventh or eighth grade in the gram¬ 
mar school, and before reaching the age when they enter their appren¬ 
ticeships or take up a life work, are compelled to become breadwinners 
for the family. The language of the provision having this purpose 
in view is as follows: 

11 Provided, That shorter courses shall be included in the 
respective secondary schools for persons permanently engaged in 
or experienced in agricultural, industrial, or home-making voca¬ 
tions; and continuation courses shall be included for persons, not 
necessarily graduated from elementary schools, who need oppor¬ 
tunities offered by short or night vocational courses in the trades 
and industries, or in home making, or in agriculture; and instruc¬ 
tion in these subjects in the upper elementary school grades may 
be included.” 

The discussion which took place at the meeting December 14-16, 
above referred to, brought out the fact that a large majority of the 
States will be unable to immediately avail themselves of the benefits of 
the larger appropriations under this bill, because of the fact that they 
lack properly equipped teachers. It was therefore deemed best to 
amend the bill by making the year ending June 30, 1916, rather than 
that ending June 30, 1915, the first year to which the larger appro¬ 
priations should apply and be made available, and this later date— 
1916—is therefore named in the bill as amended. 

This change will not only give the States ample time to prepare for 
the education of teachers, but it gives them ample opportunity to 
enact any legislation which may seem to be necessary to make the 
State laws harmonize with the national law; and it hardly need be 
said that if during the next three years it should be found that any 
minor changes not affecting the fundamental principles of the bill 
are desirable the National Congress will be quick to correct any 
defects which are discovered. 

This extension of the time within which the main appropriations of 
the bill are to be made available—from 1915 to 1916—is unquestion¬ 
ably wise under any view of the matter, but particularly so on account 
of the present condition of our national finances. 


14 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


What the bill appropriates: 

First. For the annual expense of administration, commencing with the 

fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, and annually thereafter. $70, 000 

Second. For the education of teachers for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

1913, and annually thereafter. 1,492, 000 

Third. For extension work, so-called, $500,000 for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1913, increasing this sum by $300,000 annually until 1921, 
when it reaches the maximum sum (which is thereafter annually ap¬ 
propriated) of.. 2, 900,000 


Fourth. For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and industries, 
home economics, and agriculture in the public schools of secondary 
grade for the fiscal year ending June 30,1916, and annually thereafter.. 5, 000, 000 

Fifth. For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home eco¬ 
nomics in State district agricultural schools for the fiscal year ending 


June 30,1916, and annually thereafter. 4,000, 000 

Sixth. For the maintenance of branch field test and breeding stations to 
be located at the agricultural high schools provided for by this bill for 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, and annually thereafter. 1,000, 000 


Making the maximum expenditure in 1921 and annually thereafter, 
provided every State shall avail itself of every appropriation 
made by the bill. 14, 462, 000 


This maximum sum involves an annual cost of less than 14 cents 
per capita of our population. 

It is claimed—and there are probably some grounds for the claim— 
that Germany is distancing the United States in the race for com¬ 
mercial supremacy. Men who have studied this problem thoroughly 
are of the opinion that this condition, if it exists, is largely the result 
of the better educational advantages, along industrial lines, which 
that nation provides for her boys. Germany gives to her boys, who 
because of the fact that they must at the age of 14 and after they 
have passed from the grammar grades become breadwinners, what 
is known as continuation courses of study. She examines into the 
mental and physical condition of these boys, their idiosyncrasies 
and characteristics, and furnishes them the advantages of the continu¬ 
ation courses of study suggested by such examinations. 

The American people have for a century been deceiving themselves 
with the idea that they were becoming vastly wealthy, whereas the 
facts are that the wealth was here a hundred years ago in our own 
virgin forests, our farm lands of practically inestimable worth, our 
mines, and our quarries. We have been exploiting that wealth and, 









VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


15 


so far as our farms are concerned, we have been capitalizing our fer¬ 
tilization, until to-day we have in many sections of our country 
exhausted the productivity of our soil. 

It is not a question of whether we ought or ought not to teach the 
rising generation of farmers methods by which this depletion of our 
soils may be checked. We must do it, or the 150,000,000 people who, 
under ordinary conditions, will occupy this land 30 years hence must 
derive their foodstuffs from some other section of the globe. 

It is an error to regard the appropriations called for by this bill as 
an expense. As a matter of fact, they are investments—absolutely 
necessary investments—from an economic standpoint, to say nothing 
about that infinitely greater question of duty to the American boy, 
who is entitled to that equality of opportunity which we do not now 
give him and which we can not give him in any other way than by so 
enlarging his sphere of education that he may enter upon his life work 
equipped as Germany, Switzerland. Norway, Sweden, and other 
European countries equip their sons. 

Those who read the accompanying symposium will observe that the 
leading thought of those who are chiefly interested in the $4,000,000 
appropriation for agricultural schools is the solution of the great 
economic problem which confronts us, to wit, that something must be 
done to change our agricultural conditions, to the end that we may 
not, within the next 10 or 20 years, be importers rather than exporters 
of foodstuffs. 

At the request of your committee the Commissioner of Education 
has furnished the following statement as to the number of scholars, 
respectively, in the elementary or grammar grades, the high schools, 
and the colleges, together with the percentage of cost for each class. 
It will probably surprise those who have not given the matter much 
consideration to learn that only 1.71 per cent are in the college 
grades; only 5.35 per cent in the secondary, or high-school, grades. 
The great mass of our boys—to be exact, 92.93 per cent—are in the 
elementary grades. 

The commissioner’s report shows that we are taking splendid care of 
those who enjoy the benefits of high-school and college courses—the 
7 per cent—but we are not doing our duty to the other 93 per cent— 
the children of those who, by reason of having to become the bread¬ 
winners of the family, do not pass beyond the elementary grades. 

S. Kept. 405, 62-2-2 


16 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The commissioner states that the cost of pupils in the elementary 
grades is $21.78 per capita; of those in the public high schools, $45; of 
those in the university, $280. 

The following table, which accompanied his statement, showing 
cost of elementary, secondary, and higher (college) grades, is deemed 
of interest, and is therefore inserted here: 


Per cent of enrollment and per cent of cost for the three grades in 1908-9. 


Grades. 

Per cent of 
enrollment. 

Per cent of 
cost. 

Elementary. 

92.93 

74.68 

Secondary. 

5.35 

10.08 

Higher. 

1.71 

15.24 



Little respect should be accorded the man who would intentionally 
deprecate the liberal expenditure made for the maintenance of the 
splendid colleges and universities that are doing so much for the 
progress and prosperity of our land; but we should have no more 
respect for the man who, having enjoyed a college education, is 
inclined to oppose, because of the expense, the training necessary to 
equip with sufficient education to enable them to become good self- 
respecting, self-supporting citizens, those who are so situated that 
they can not avail themselves of a college course. 

It will not answer for any man to say that this bill is extravagant, 
that it appropriates too much, that it is too liberal with the sons of 
those who toil, unless he is at t-he same time able to point out some 
other and better method whereby the boy may be equipped for his 
life work. To-day, in far too large numbers, these boys, through no 
fault of their own, are drifting into a cheap and oftentimes criminal 
manhood, and their lack of educational advantages and their environ¬ 
ment are responsible for this condition. 

No one can read the compendium of opinions which are submitted 
herewith as a part of this report without reaching the conclusion that 
the great mass of the American people demand that something be 
done. The field is already white for the harvest. To turn a deaf 
ear to these appeals is to develop within the next decade a generation 
of malcontents and anarchists, and all because we are unwilling to 
appropriate the insignificant sum of 14 cents per capita per annum 
from the Public Treasury for a cause more pregnant with importance 











VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 17 

from a legislative standpoint than any other that now is, or for 50 
years has been, before the American people. 

As a result of this correspondence and of the investigations made 
a bill amended and perfected according to the best light shed upon 
this measure by the correspondence is herewith submitted, and your 
subcommittee respectfully recommends that as amended the bill be 
favorably reported to the Senate. 

Carroll S. Page, 

Subcommittee. 

The following symposium is largely made up of excerpts from com¬ 
munications received in response to letters sent out by Senator Page, 
by direction of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 
to State superintendents of public instruction, presidents of agri¬ 
cultural colleges, and others prominent in the cause of agricultural 
and industrial education. In some cases they have come from other 
sources. 

They are classified by States, and the different lines of thought 
emanating from the North, East, South, and West are especially inter¬ 
esting, when considered sectionally, as showing the favorable trend of 
public sentiment with reference to this important economic, industrial, 
and educational problem. 

Collectively, they seem to show beyond question that the American 
people are in favor of immediate action by the National Congress on 
this important subject, and that they will regard any longer delay in 
cooperation between the Federal Government and the States as not in 
the line of true economy. It probably is no exaggeration to say that 
more than 95 per cent of all these extracts from letters, trade journals, 
etc., are commendatory of the fundamental principles of this bill, 
although the bill as it was originally drawn received more or less 
criticism as to its minor details. 

It is probably true that wherever Senate bill No. 3 has been under 
discussion there has been a practical unanimity of sentiment in favor 
of its hearty indorsement. In very rare instances where the bill has 
seemed to raise some doubts as to its effect upon agricultural colleges 
there has been some criticism upon the minor features of the bill, but 
in only 2 of the 48 States and Territories have the main features of 
the bill have been opposed. 

ALABAMA. 

J. A. Wilkinson, commissioner of agriculture and industries, says: 

“ We of Alabama are very much interested and concerned about 
vocational education, and we believe that the time is at hand 
when the Federal Government should move in this direction. 


18 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


“I believe that if the Federal Government would make an 
appropriation and lead the States in this movement, this would 
be one of the wisest steps that could possibly be taken by our 
great statesmen in Washington.” 

James X. Powers, president State Normal College, Florence, says: 

“I have read the bill with interest, and hope to see it passed 
at an early day.” 

J. W. Watson, A. B., president of the first district agricultural 
school, Jackson, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of the vocational educational bill, 
which is now pending in Congress, and I sincerely hope that it 
will pass. The progress of vocational education is very much 
retarded because of lack of funds; in fact, as I see and under¬ 
stand the situation in the States, very little progress can be made 
along agricultural and industrial lines until Congress comes to 
our rescue and gives us an appropriation.” 

ARIZONA. 

R. H. Forbes, University of Arizona, Tucson, says: 

“ Replying to yours of December 4, allow me to express my 
heartiest appreciation of the motives actuating Senate bill No. 
3, a copy of which you have just forwarded me.” 

ARKANSAS. 

George B. Cook, State superintendent of public instruction, Little 
Rock, says: 

“I regret it is impossible to attend conference, but send hearty 
indorsement of Page bill and assure you of most cordial cooper¬ 
ation of the Arkansas department of public instruction and myself 
personally. This measure specifically recognizes the most im¬ 
portant duty that rests upon the Nation as well as upon the 
individual, community*, and State the duty of training for citi¬ 
zenship through public schools.” 

J. J. Doyne, president Arkansas State Normal School, Canway, 
says:. 


“Permit me to urge that you use your influence as far as 
possible in securing the passage of the Page bill, entitled ‘A bill 
to cooperate with the States,’ etc. No measure that has been 
presented for years, it seems to me, means so much to the rapid 
advancement of those measures so vital to the prosperity of our 
country. I beg to assure you that aught that you may do or 
say in behalf of the measure will be appreciated by its many 
friends.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


19 


Victor C. Kays, State Agricultural School, Jonesboro, says: 

“This bill is one of vital interest to the farming people, not 
only of the South, but of the whole country. On our farming 
people depends the prosperity of the rest of our population. 
Heretofore the farmer has received little recognition along the 
lines of instruction from the Federal Government. When we 
compare the expenditure for the uplift of the farming people with 
those which have been made for other classes of our population 
and for other purposes which are not constructive in their nature, 
the sums meted to agriculture and the mechanic arts seem to 
be a mere pittance. The people throughout this State are 
thoroughly alive to the benefit to be derived from aid of this sort, 
and they are watching the acts of their Representatives with a 
great deal of interest to see that every effort is put forth for the 
passage of this bill, which seems to us to be best adapted to our 
needs at the present time. It would seem, with the proper 
direction of the efforts of our statesmen who are interested in 
benefiting the condition of the agricultural community, that 
this bill should become a law. I hope that you will use every 
effort to assist us in this matter, and trust that you will call on 
any or all of us, who are vitally interested in this measure, for 
any assistance which we may be able to give you whatsoever/’ 

H. G. Spaulding, secretary of the chamber of commerce, Pine 
Bluff, says: 

“I have read your letter carefully, and also the accompanying 
copy of your bill and the indorsements thereof, and wish to say 
that it will have my unqualified support in every way. I will 
take occasion to review your measure in the forthcoming issue 
of Back to the Land, and will urge our people to secure the 
support of their Senators therefor.” 

CALIFORNIA. 

Edward Hyatt, State superintendent of public instruction, Sacra¬ 
mento, says: 

“Please count me in to do everything I can in my bailiwick 
for the Page bill. You are free to quote me to any desired 
extent as favoring the bill and being ready to further its inter¬ 
est in all legitimate ways.” 

Daily Journal of Commerce, San Francisco, says: 

“Senator Page in moving this reform is doubtless acting under 
an impulse aroused by the fact that the day seems to have 
arrived when the United States can no longer rely for a balance 
of trade in the commerce of the world upon her exports of grain. 
It has become apparent that the population of the country has 
reached proportions that demand the retention of too large a 
proportion of its grain and some other products heretofore freely 
exported to enable it to offset its importations with these exports, 
and that in order to increase the yield of cereals and other 
agricultural products better methods of farming must be intro¬ 
duced. It is also necessary to improve industrial conditions in 
order to be able to compete with other nations in manufactures.” 


20 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


COLORADO. 

Hon. S. Guggenheim, United States Senator from Colorado, says: 

“I have your letter of the 13th instant relative to Senate bill 3, 
introduced by you, a bill to cooperate with the States in encour¬ 
aging instruction in agriculture, etc., and I shall be very glad to 
read the inclosures forwarded by you, as I am in hearty sympathy 
with the purposes of the bill.” 

At a meeting of the Colorado Teachers’ Association a resolution 
formally indorsing Senate bill 3 was adopted, and at a later meeting 
of the educational council of Colorado the committee on vocational 
instruction made a report strongly favoring the enactment of Senate 
bill 3 and indorsed the action of the Colorado Teachers’ Association. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Charles L. Beach, president of the Connecticut Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, Storrs, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of the passage of a bill in aid of agri¬ 
cultural extension. The results from an investment of this 
character promise large returns, and I trust that the present Con¬ 
gress may take favorable action upon this important measure.” 

Charles D. Hine, secretary of the Connecticut State Board of 
Education, Hartford, writes: 

“Your letter of December 2 and the accompanying bill and 
expressions of opinion were laid before the State board of edu¬ 
cation. At a meeting held December 19, 1911, the following 
vote was passed: Voted, that this board does not approve the 
bill before Congress entitled ‘A bill to cooperate with the States 
in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics 
in secondary schools; in maintaining instruction in these voca¬ 
tional subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining extension 
departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, 
and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure.’ ” 

DELAWARE. 

H. Hayward, of the Delaware State Board of Education, expressed 
his approval of the Page bill by offering to come to Washington to 
aid in the passage of the measure, if necessary. His telegram is as 
follows: 

1 ‘ Will my presence at Page bill conference to-morrow aid in 
any way the passage of his bill ? I represent Delaware College 
and Delaware State Board of Education.” 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Clarence J. Owens, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Commer¬ 
cial Congress, Washington, D. C., says: 

“The Southern Commercial Congress, through its executive 
officers, has approved the Page vocational education bill now 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


21 


pending in the Senate. Without sectional or political motives 
the Southern Commercial Congress has been named by friends 
of this measure as the national headquarters for the advocacy 
of the passage of the bill.” 

Dr. Myers, principal of the McKinley Manual Training School at 
Washington, D. C., says: 

“After considerable study of the subject, with particular 
attention to Germany, which is far ahead of other countries in 
training for the industries, I am forced to the conclusion that 
a satisfactory system of industrial education in this country 
must include a working over of the elementary school curricu¬ 
lum in such a way as to make the industrial activities of the 
community the vitalizing factor in it.” 

Dr. William Davison, newly elected superintendent of public 
schools, District of Columbia, says: 

“I am in favor of working out further the idea of introducing 
vocational subjects into the curriculum of the schools. People 
are beginning to realize that boys and girls must be taught to 
earn a living and that they can not spend their entire time in 
studying so-called classical subjects. All children must be 
educated on their ethical side and must be taught about the 
higher things of life, but they must also be taught that they 
must support themselves and be given lessons in how to earn 
money. Our schools should be well balanced, with both these 
ideas kept well to the front.” 

“I have just written a letter giving my hearty indorsement to 
the Page bill known as Senate bill No. 3. 

“I am exceedingly pleased to know that you have received 
such an unqualified and hearty indorsement of your bill from 
the State superintendents of the public institutions throughout 
the country.” 

Mr. Myron Germain Jones, director of education in the Washington 
Young Men’s Christian Association, says: 

“What private initiative has amply attested as wise and needed; 
what careful investigations of educational leaders, economists, 
and captains of industry have clearly shown to be the new de¬ 
mand if we are to be a nation of producers; what States like 
Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, and Massachusetts have already done in 
consolidated rural schools and in trade training systems related 
to local industry, would all go to demonstrate the desirability of 
enacting the provisions of this bill into our Federal scheme of 
education, and that without delay. 

“This educational work is democratic and Christlike because 
of its humbler aims—humbler as regards culture, per se, but vaster 
as regards humanity. It aims not, like the university, to reach 
and teach a maximum of knowledge and truth, but to evolve the 
maximum of individual manhood; to reach down to the man 
who has not had a chance, to help him up, to put his feet on the 
first step he can now reach, to help him upward, stair by stair, 


22 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


as he is able to advance, not necessarily to the highest reach of 
truth and knowledge attainable by man, but to the highest 
attainable by this man, practicable for him; to make his life the 
greatest, richest, and most helpful it can be made within his span 
of being .’’ 

The Evening Star, Washington, D. C., says: 

“The rural educational problem is one that has long been 
neglected. It is also one of the most important problems of the 
present day. Fifty-five per cent of the population of the United 
States live in rural districts and in small villages. Sixty-five per 
cent of the children are there. In many parts of the country we 
still have the one-room school, where the teacher is supervisor, 
principal, superintendent, and teacher all in one. 

“Too many boys are being turned loose in the world to live in 
a makeshift way; turned loose without any one desirable thing 
having been well enough learned to make a living at it. A good 
brick mason is surer of a comfortable life than an indifferent law¬ 
yer and is a bigger factor in the upbuilding of the world.” 

FLORIDA. 

William Ilalloway, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Tallahassee, says: 

“The State department of education and the friends of edu¬ 
cation throughout Florida are strongly in favor of the passage 
of the Page bill.” 

J. J. Vernon, dean of the College of Agriculture, University of 
Florida, says: 

“ The Page bill, Senate 3, is both practical and comprehensive. 
It is the best bill yet offered having for its purpose the training 
of the sadly neglected masses. It is socially and economically 
sound. Congressional action is necessary to draw out back¬ 
ward States. The action of Congress is urgently needed. I 
indorse the Page bill.” 


GEORGIA. 

M. L. Brittain, State superintendent of education, Atlanta, says: 

“I feel a great interest in the Page bill. It seems to me that 
the measure proposed is directed toward a vital need. It so 
happens that, through the concentration of w r ealth in urban 
localities, the child in the city and town receives from two to 
ten times as much educational assistance as the one on the 
farm. This, too, despite the fact that we are all dependent upon 
the results of the work of those engaged in agriculture. 

“I earnestly hope that the bill will pass, and that in this way 
more help may be given to each State to promote rural life and 
prosperity.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


23 


Southern Machinery, Atlanta, says: 

“That industrial education has assumed national importance 
and is attracting attention throughout the United States is shown 
by a bill recently introduced in the Senate by Senator Carroll S. 
Page, with a view to Government aid to the States in promoting 
a better system of education along agricultural and industrial 
lines and in home economics. The bill as it stands at present 
may not be entirely satisfactory in every respect, but the subject 
is worthy the best thought of the Nation. Industrial education 
has been tried in a comparatively small way and found to be 
helpful. It has passed the experimental stage and bids fair to 
become one of the most important branches of public instruc¬ 
tion.^ 

Hon. G. Gunby Jorden, president board of education, Columbus, 
says: 

“From a long experience in manufacturing and in farming, 
together with continued service for several years as a trustee in 
one of the State schools of agriculture in Georgia, and as presi¬ 
dent of the board of education of Columbus, Ga., I have had 
opportunities in forming a very decided opinion upon the neces¬ 
sity for vocational education in the United States. I have never 
had occasion to change my views as to the great necessity for 
Federal aid in this regard. 

thorough training of the youths of this land in industrial, 
agricultural, and vocational work would save untold millions, 
wasted now in senseless strikes and pitiless lockouts, by a better 
and saner acquaintance between capital and labor. 

“The Federal Government, in my opinion, dealing equitably 
and fairly with all the States and Territories in this regard, is 
not only well within its constitutional rights, but could make no 
appropriation of money which would so soon, so thoroughly, and 
so lastingly benefit the people.” 

IDAHO. 

G. M. Shepherd, State superintendent of public instruction, Boise, 
says: 

“It may please you to know that at a meeting of the Idaho 
State Teachers’ Association, held January 4 to 6, the association 
passed a resolution urging our Representatives in Congress to do 
all in their power to pass Senate bill 3. 

“I sincerely hope the bill will pass Congress at this session. 
I am particularly desirous that it pass at this time so that at our 
next legislature we may pass laws in harmony with the Page bill. 
The greater part of our State is agricultural and we need schools 
such as the bill makes possible. Too long has our educational 
system been at fault in that it did not prepare our boys and girls 
for useful citizenship. We need to educate them for the farm 
and the trades rather than away from them. 

“I hope a few narrow-minded people who are always crying 
expense will be able to see that this is one of the greatest and 


24 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


best pieces of legislation for the welfare of the Nation that has 
ever been introduced. 

“We will be glad to assist in any way we can to secure the 
passage of this bill.” 

ILLINOIS. 

Hon. C. S. Deneen, governor of Illinois, says: 

“Since acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 11th 
instant, I have read the bill inclosed and I am in sympathy with 
its provisions concerning the introduction of vocational instruc¬ 
tion in the public schools of the secondary class. These provi¬ 
sions are in harmony with the suggestions and recommendations 
of our State educational commission, which has just completed a 
codification of our school laws and the preparation of courses of 
study in agriculture, manual training, and domestic science for 
use in these schools, as well as in.the country schools of the State. 

“With the general purpose of the bill to further the introduc¬ 
tion into the public-school system of the States of education in 
the practical arts and sciences, I am in hearty accord.” 

Edwin G. Cooley, former superintendent of the Chicago public 
schools, says: 

“America’s resources, though great, are not infinite, and we 
must learn the lesson of efficiency in work if we are to maintain 
our place. We can become a true democracy only when we are 
as much concerned about training a good blacksmith as we are 
about training a good lawyer—when our system of schools offers 
equal opportunities to all.” 

Mr. Frank M. Leavitt, associate professor of industrial education 
in the University of Chicago, says: 

“Your letter of June 17 addressed to the editor of the School 
Review, Chicago, Ill., is referred to me for a reply. I have been 
interested in every effort of Congress to enact legislation relating 
to the advancement of agriculture and industrial arts since the 
introduction of the Davis bill. We would be only too glad to do 
anything in our power to advance the cause. 

“The purpose of the proposed legislation seems to be to 
provide well-rounded vocational courses as well as general 
preparation for agriculture, trades, and industries, and home 
maldng suited to the respective sections of the United States. 
It includes encouragement for those permanently engaged in 
these vocations, and ‘not necessarily graduated for elementary 
schools/ by the establishment of short, practical courses. Lt 
purposes to promote earlier interest in the scientific study of 
these fundamental human activities by giving appropriate 
instruction in specialized normal courses. The movement to 
furnish an adequate education for the agricultural and industrial 
workers of the country is now well under way, and renewed 
interest would certainly be stimulated by the passage of the 
Page bill. The bill deserves the careful reading and, we believe, 
the active support of those who hope for the rapid extension of 
free public education.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


25 


The editor of the Farm Home, Springfield, says: 

“This office will take great pleasure in aiding you in any pos¬ 
sible way in the passage of the bill. ,? 

The editor of the American Bee Journal, Chicago, says: 

“ I am in hearty accord with your effort and trust that it may 
be successful.” 

The editor of the Farmers’ Review, Chicago, says: 

“I consider this measure along the right line. There is no 
doubt of the need of greater activity along this line for our public 
schools. It should be included in every school curriculum.” 

The editor of the National Food Magazine, of Chicago, says: 

“This measure has our hearty approval and best wishes for its 
success. After looking over its provisions carefully, we can see 
no good reason for opposition to it, as the lack of instruction in 
agricultural trades and industries is the main reason why America 
is now falling behind Germany in the race for commercial 
supremacy.” 

Mr. Charles H. Smith, editor School Science and Mathematics, 
Chicago, says: 

11 1 have read with interest your bill which has in view the giv¬ 
ing of Government aid to the States in promoting a better system 
of education along agricultural and industrial lines. It is right 
in line with one of the many subjects of education for which this 
journal stands. We will be pleased to do what we can to secure 
its passage by bringing it before our readers. I have no criti¬ 
cisms to make on it; the purpose for which it is intended is 
clearly stated.” 

- Mr. B. F. Harris, president Illinois Bankers’ Association, vice 
president First National Bank, Champaign, writes: 

“Your letter of July 26, stating that you had sent me copy of 
your Senate bill 3, including the bill, is duly received. There is 
no question that work and appropriation along this line is needed, 
but just how to accomplish the best results in the shortest time 
is the rub. I am chairman of the Illinois Bankers’ Association 
committee on agriculture and vocational education; also presi¬ 
dent of the Bankers’ Association. Our committee is to conduct 
a program at the annual bankers’ meeting October 11, at Spring- 
field, Ill., and we have secured Mr. James J. Hill as our chief 
speaker. 

“I will be obliged if you will send me 8 or 10 copies of your 
bill, which I may submit to our committee and others interested, 
so that they may digest the same. We are all working for the 
same end, and we ought to be able to get together on the right 
sort of bill.” 


26 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The Banker, Chicago, says: 

“Senator Page’s bill for added Federal aid to agricultural col¬ 
leges and normal schools and for the extension of instruction in 
agriculture, trades, and industries has been indorsed at Wash¬ 
ington at a conference at which were present Senator Fletcher, 
of Florida, and Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, Henry G. Wil¬ 
liams, of the National Educational Association, and others. 
The bill proposes to increase eventually Federal aid to agricul¬ 
tural colleges to about $12,000,000 a year.” 

The Argus, Bock Island, says: 

“Among the mass of measures pending in Congress is one 
fathered by Senator Page, of Vermont, that possesses exceptional 
merit. It provides for the promotion of vocational, and espe¬ 
cially agricultural, training in the public schools. 

“The Illinois Educational Association at its recent convention 
approved this advanced teaching. The State is making large 
appropriations for agricultural and vocational training in the 
public schools, but the demand exceeds the available resources 
of the State treasury. The importance of these branches of 
education is becoming more apparent from year to year, and 
their value in promoting the general welfare can not be over¬ 
estimated.” 

INDIANA. 

Charles A. Greathouse, State superintendent of public instruction, 
says: 

“It will be impossible for me to be present at the meeting in 
Washington December 14, 15, and 16, nor shall I be able to 
send a representative from this department at that time. 

“The measure you are supporting is certainly a valuable one, 
and I regret my inability at this time to be with you in promoting 
this measure.” 

J. M. Studebaker, president Studebaker corporation, South Bend, 
says: 

“I hail with entire approval the growing tendency to foster edu¬ 
cation of a practical nature having to do with the affairs of the 
shop and the farm, and it seems* to me that this is especially de¬ 
sirable with reference to agriculture. I am satisfied that in no 
direction can aid be applied where it wdll bring such returns as 
when bestowed in diffusing intelligence respecting improved 
methods of farming. Our prosperity depends in great measure on 
the success of our farming communities. Increase the good for¬ 
tune of the farmer and advantage results to the whole country. 
I like immensely the sentiment with which you conclude your 
epitome of the proposed legislation—‘A greater nation through 
a greater common people.’” 

J. B. Conner, editor Indiana Farmer, Indianapolis, says: 

“We have the letter of your secretary, with inclosures in regard 
to the splendid movement proposed in Congress in Senate bill 3, 
by Senator Page, of Vermont. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


27 


u We have had correspondence with Senator Page on this sub¬ 
ject, and have already strongly urged this bill. 

“The whole country is coming more and more to understand 
that the productive forces of the Nation and the home economics 
are the factors making it great and strong, and that whatever 
measures are taken to develop and build up these are the greatest 
functions underlying public legislation. Looking to this great 
work is a bill now pending in Congress, known as Senate bill 3. 
The Indiana Farmer has been strongly advocating the features 
of this bill, and will take pleasure in cooperating in the promotion 
of its passage, as we believe it is an exceedingly important matter 
to the whole country.” 

IOWA. 


H. H. Seerley, chairman national committee on agricultural edu¬ 
cation, and president of the Iowa State Teachers’ College, Cedar 
Falls, says: 


“The education of the whole people is sorimportant and the 
training of teachers to do the work is so imperative that the 
United States should have a hand in the business. The State 
superintendents and the State normal schools give their enthusi¬ 
astic support to the Page bill. It ought to be treated as one of 
the greatest measures of this age, as it means the betterment of 
the whole country. 

“Appropriations thus made will help the people to be self- 
reliant, self-directive, and self-supporting, and, in the end, bring 
returns in citizenship and in prosperity that can not be estimated. 
The making of this measure into the law of the land would pro¬ 
duce a revolution in educational lines that would create a new 
era of enterprise and progress. 

“ Our present legislature is passing a bill that will introduce 
to a limited extent agriculture and domestic arts into at least 
100 high schools during the coming year. This will be a step in 
the right direction, but the problem involves matters of such 
great importance to the country industrially that such slow 
procedure is hardly satisfactory. 

“I trust that the National Government may see fit to become 
cooperator in educational advancement as well as in other lines 
already so thoroughly indorsed.” 


Albert M. Deyoe, State superintendent of public instruction, Des 
Moines, says: 

“I wish to thank you for a copy of Senate bill 3. I heartily 
approve of this measure, and wish to assure you that you may 
depend upon my support in bringing about its passage. 

“ I believe that encouragement and assistance from a national 
source would be a great incentive to the promotion of vocational 
training in all the States. I believe there is no issue of more 
vital importance in the United States to-day than the matter of 
constructive legislation along educational lines.” 


28 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


G.F.Curtiss, of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts, says: 

“I am pleased to give the bill my hearty indorsement. The 
public-school system of America is lamentably weak in failing to 
make provision for this kind of education. The United States 
can not hope to hold a leading place among the industrial nations 
without the training of young men for efficient service in indus¬ 
trial work. 

“This problem lies at the foundation of industrial prosperity 
in all sections of our country, and the passage of this measure is 
of vital importance and ought not to be long delayed.” 

J. F. Monk, of Tobin College, Iowa, says: 

“We sincerely trust that you may be able to secure the legis¬ 
lation of this character, for a comparatively small investment 
along these lines will certainly bring immense returns in the 
future.” 

The editor of Pierce’s Farm Weeklies, of Des Moines, the Iowa 
Homestead, Wisconsin Farmer, and Farmer and Stockman, says: 

“ We are greatly interested in this matter, and intend to 
comment quite liberally upon your bill in an early number of 
Pierce’s Farm Weeklies.” 

The editor of Kimball’s Daily Farmer, Waterloo, says: 

“You are to be most heartily congratulated upon having 
introduced a bill of such far-reaching significance. Your bill 
most certainly ought to pass, and you may count upon us to do 
whatever we can to promote its popularity.” 

The editor of the Creamery Journal, of Waterloo, says: 

‘ ‘ It seems to me that you have struck a very important line 
of work. There is no question whatever but that the Govern¬ 
ment should take an active part in this great educational move¬ 
ment, and you may count upon us for support.” 

The editor of Successful Farming, Des Moines, writes: 

“The prosperity of the world depends on successful farming, 
and successful farming depends upon the rural schools. I hope 
your efforts will meet with success.” 

The editor of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer of Waterloo, writes Senator 
Cummins a letter which contains an exceedingly intelligent statement 
showing the way in which the farmers of the West look upon Senate 
bill 3. He says: 

“I hope that you will give your hearty support to the bill S. 3, 
introduced by Mr. Page. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


29 


“I have been in position to know the need of instruction of 
this kind. In every village, town, and city there are many young 
people to whom the public schools are distasteful because they do 
not offer work that is of vital interest in fighting the battle for 
bread. 

“The purpose of such schools is to develop citizens. The 
courses that are being offered tend to stimulate mental activity 
and to cultivate an appreciation of literature and art. Both of 
these are commendable but they are scarcely sufficient in them¬ 
selves, and until we give the young people of this country a little 
training that will help them to provide means whereby they can 
enjoy these finer things of life we have not done our duty. 

“There are many boys who find their school work distasteful 
because it is so largely theoretical. If these same young people 
could be trained to use the hand as well as the brain their interest 
would be intensified and they would continue their school work 
longer than many are now doing. I can testify to all of the 
above from actual schoolroom experience. 

“Another thing that should commend this bill and secure 
its passage is the benefit that it will be to the agricultural in¬ 
dustry. It is a trite saying that prosperity goes on crutches 
when crops go wrong. Farming is fundamental to national 
prosperity, but the farms of to-day are different from the farms 
of 20 years ago, and the farmer oi to-day has problems to solve 
which the farmer two decades ago knew nothing about. 

“Conservation of the soil is more vital than conservation of 
any other natural resources. The problems that are meeting 
the farmers to-day are only a foretaste of those that will confront 
the farmer 20 years from now. If we are to continue to enjoy 
prosperity we must equip farmers of future generations with a 
knowledge of fundamental principles that will make it possible 
for them to meet the problems of larger production and better 
care of land and crops. 

“The funds which this bill provides for carrying on the work 
that it outlines should not stand in the way of its passage. They 
are so infinitesimal when compared with the benefits that are 
to be derived that they are scarcely worthy of consideration. 

“If the people of the United States are to continue to hold 
the enviable position which they now enjoy they must meet such 
problems in a businesslike manner. The farmers and taxpayers 
generally should be anxious to provide for the measure.” 

KANSAS. 

E. T. Fairchild, superintendent of public instruction for the State 
of Kansas, Topeka, says: 

“I have just received your favor of June 26 and a copy of 
Senate bill 3. I have read this with much interest, and am glad 
to state that it seems to me to be a most worthy measure. I 
am heartily in sympathy with the motto ‘more books and fewer 
battleships.' ” 


30 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The editor of the Western School Journal, of Topeka, says: 

‘ * I have looked through the bill, and it seems to me it ought 
to pass.” 

The editor of the Missouri Valley Farmer, Topeka, says: 

“Your bill seems designed to correct a great evil, and the 
Government may well concern itself about the matter.” 

KENTUCKY. 

Barksdale Hamlett, superintendent public instruction, Hopkins¬ 
ville, says: 

‘ ‘ I have your communication of December 9, in regard to your 
Senate bill on agriculture, trades, and industries and home 
economics in secondary schools. 

“I have no hesitancy in stating on behalf of the people in 
Kentucky, and especially those who are alive to educational 
needs, that we regard this as one of the most important meas¬ 
ures before the present Congress and sincerely hope that it will 
be passed at an early date and signed by the President. I 
believe that the passage of this bill, even though the appropri¬ 
ation will be small compared with the other great governmental 
expenditures, will do more for the cause of agricultural interests 
than anything that has been done in the past 50 years. I 
sincerely hope that it will be passed. 

“I am at your command for any assistance that I may be able 
to render, and shall be glad to urge every Member of Congress 
from my State to support the bill.” 

J. G. Crabbe, president Eastern Kentucky State Normal, Rich¬ 
mond, says: 4 

“I regret that previous engagements prevented my attending 
conference behalf of Page bill (S. 3). I beg to assure the con¬ 
ference that Kentucky educators believe this bill is vitally impor¬ 
tant to a broader national view and responsibility as to fitting 
our children for successful life. 

“I hope you will do all in your power to secure the passage of 
this bill. It receives the hearty support of educators throughout 
the country, and in my opinion is a very desirable measure, as 
the questions involved are among the most important in present- 
day needs.” 

Mary C. Roark, acting president, Eastern Kentucky State Normal 
School, says: 

“The students and faculty of this school are very much inter¬ 
ested in the bill providing for the teaching of agriculture in the 
normal schools/' 

The Southern School Journal, Lexington, says: 

“I have your letter of the 17th instant, with copy of Senate 
bill 3. I thank you for the privilege of close examination of the 
measures proposed therein. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


31 


“While I have not as yet given attention to the details of the 
measure, I have noted the leading features and provisions, and 
propose to do all that may be in my power to secure the passage 
of the measure. 

“Our country is so large and even its agricultural interests are 
so varied that a system suited to a smaller country would not 
only be inadequate, but harmful and wasteful. I am particu¬ 
larly pleased with the feature of your measure which creates each 
State or Territory as a practical unit for the working out of its 
own agricultural salvation.” 

The Courier Journal, Louisville, says: 

“The country is gradually waking up to the importance of 
vocational education. To put such an education within reach 
of the masses is a gigantic undertaking. Advocates of the 
Page bill believe that the measure presents the only practical 
plan that so far has been devised; that the United States might 
profitably expend the price of a battleship every year in such 
an enterprise and thus encourage the States to ‘come across’ 
with more liberal appropriations of their own for the support of 
their agricultural colleges, experiment stations, and vocational 
schools.” 

Ellsworth Regenstein, late State superintendent of public instruc¬ 
tion, Frankfort, says: 

“Your letter of the 2d instant, with inclosed copy of Senate 
bill 3, has been received. The bill meets with my approval and 
I shall be glad to cooperate with you in bringing about its 
passage.” 

LOUISIANA. 

T. H. Harris, of the department of education, Louisiana, says: 

“I have examined the bill and wish to give it my indorsement. 
I think it is a good one and trust that it will pass both Houses. 
I wish that I could be present in person and render all possible 
assistance.” 

MAINE. 

President Fellows, of the University of Maine, says: 

“By means of assistance proposed in this bill we can accom¬ 
plish m five years what would otherwise require a century.” 

Payson Smith, superintendent of public schools, Augusta, says: 

“I have examined with much care Senate bill 3, which yon 
sent me with a request for suggestion. I fail to note any points 
whatever in which this bill could be improved. It strikes me 
that it is so framed that it meets most acceptably the varying 
conditions of control of the several States. I am certainly 
much in favor of the enactment of a measure of this kind, and 
shall be very happy to be of any possible service in promoting its 
interests.” 

S. Kept. 405, 62-2-3 


32 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


MARYLAND. 

B. H. Crocheron, principal of the agricultural high school of Sparks, 
says: 

“I am greatly obliged to you for the literature relative to the 
Page bill, concerning which I am exceedingly hopeful. I, of 
course, believe in the bill, and am doing all possible to bring it 
before the people. I hope to secure its consideration at the 
National Country Life Congress to be held at Spokane November 
23-29.” 

The Manufacturers Record, Baltimore, says: 

“We have considered your letter of July 17 and its inclosure, 
but we are obliged to tell you that we can not support the 
measure in Senate bill 3. We have long felt it is beyond the 
province of the Federal Government to participate in the educa¬ 
tion of the American people.” 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The Weekly Bulletin, Boston, says: 

“The educational bill recently introduced in the United States 
Senate by Senator Page, of Vermont, is printed in full in this 
week’s issue. The scope of this bill and the good that it is 
intended to do the young people on the United States is of 
tremendous importance and shows a policy on the part of Senator 
Page of endeavoring to carry through one of the best measures 
which this country has ever seen. 

“It seems as if no thinking man who has at heart the per¬ 
manent welfare of this country would do anything but indorse 
legislation of this kind. It is only through such helpful meas¬ 
ures, increasing the education and consequently the efficiency 
of the people of the United States, that we can hope to maintain 
the position which we desire among the civilized nations. The 
country to-day is severely distorted by commercialism, animated 
with the idea of big wages and big profits and attracting more of 
the population than is good for the country to the manufacturing 
and merchandising centers. 

“There is a great lack of the knowledge of what true success 
in business and in life really is, and the more that the country can 
grasp the spirit of Senate bill 3 and get away from legislation 
and political influence which encourages and fosters greed, 
selfishness, and monopoly profits, the more the United States 
will advance.” 

Mr. Herbert Myrick, president National League for Industrial 
Education, and editor of the Orange Judd Agricultural Weekly, at 
Springfield, says: 

“Rest assured that not only our periodicals but our entire organ¬ 
ization, will do everything possible to promote this beneficent 
bill. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


33 


“Knowledge is power, provided you have the capacity to use 
it, and that is what this system of education does. It incul¬ 
cates not only science, which is knowing, but art, which is doing, 
so that when the boys and girls come out of these schools and 
colleges they not only know, but they can do; whereas, as so 
many of us know from stern experience in dealing with a large 
number of people, a great many graduates from colleges and 
universities are educated to death and can not do anything. It 
takes several years to learn how to work. 

“The experience of the institutions which I have cited, 
gathered, and presented to you in a very definite way do abso¬ 
lutely demonstrate and prove that the result of this training is 
of the utmost benefit in increased efficiency. 

“Now, on the mechanical and trades side, let me illustrate a 
point by a chart I have here, showing the money value of indus¬ 
trial training. This is from the Newark Technical High School, 
at Newark, N. J. This chart shows that the so-called skilled 
mechanic in the industries of New Jersey earns $15 to $25 a 
week. But let the same adult mechanics spend their evenings 
for a while acquiring technical training and industrial education, 
and so greatly is their capacity developed that at the age of 45 
they occupy positions that pay an average of $66 a week. This 
is the actual result of a census taken of the graduates of the 
Newark Technical High School, which is an evening school. 
These are mechanics who work at their trade during the day, 
who come in and attend evening classes, and I think 3,000 of 
them, over a long period of years, have raised their pay from an 
average of $20 to $25 a week to $66 a week. 

“No other one agency has contributed so much to the rapid 
rise industrially of Germany as have her technical schools in 
each of the productive classes. 

“Japan studied the educational systems of all countries; and, 
having copied Germany and other countries which have inaugu¬ 
rated vocational education, is rapidly introducing a new indus¬ 
trial era.” 

Mr. Chas. H. Winslow, acting secretary of the committee on indus¬ 
trial education of the American Federation of Labor, and a member 
of the Commission on Industrial Education in the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts, says: 

“The difficulty with the present system of school education is 
that the boys want to wear white collars and cuffs all the time. 
They would prefer to get a salary of $7 per week than a wage of 
$27. They do not see anything in working for wages, but they 
do see a great deal in working for a salary.” 

He illustrated by the story of a young man who upon graduat¬ 
ing from high school wrote a letter to his principal saying: 

“Mr. Principal, I have gone four years to your school; I have 
my diploma, and what am I going to do?” 

“Why,” said his principal, “we have done the very best we 
could for you. We have steered you through these courses, 


34 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


taking you out through the channel by the rocks into the ocean 
of life. Now, you can go your own way.” 

“Really,” replied the pupil, “what you have done for me is, 
You have steered me through the channel by the rocks out into 
the ocean where there is nothing but fog and I can only blow 
my whistle.” 

“Something must be done and the only way to do it is to 
encourage the passing of this bill.” 

Deputy Commissioner C. A. Prosser, of the State board of edu¬ 
cation, says: 

“The vocational school differs from the regular high school in 
aim, content, method, and social function. The high school 
gives general training for life; the vocational gives specific 
training for a definite calling. The difference is organized 
knowledge with deferred values as contrasted with applied 
knowledge and immediate values. The method of the high 
school is abstract and formal; that of the vocational, concrete 
and direct. 

“The two should not be regarded as competitive but as par¬ 
allel institutions, each tapping a different school strata.” 

The Commercial Bulletin, Boston, says: 

“The bill introduced by Senator Carroll S. Page, of Vermont, 
to encourage instruction in agriculture, the trades and indus¬ 
tries, and home economics in secondary schools, is still pending 
before Congress. 

“There is no doubt that industrial education is not developed 
to anything like the extent to which it might well be developed 
in this country, and if we are to remain in the front rank of man¬ 
ufacturing nations, we must have not only the best machinery 
in the world, but also the best-trained hands and brains to oper¬ 
ate it. 

“Whether Senator Page’s bill will accomplish all that is hoped 
from it is, of course, uncertain, but it is gratifying to note that 
the legislative branch of our National Government is devoting 
intelligent thought to a problem that is as serious and important 
as any bill that can come before them, as it concerns the welfare 
and progress of our people.” 

The Journal of Education, of Boston, says: 

“A bill of considerable interest to educators, and especially 
to those engaged in vocational training, was introduced in the 
United States Senate last April by Senator Page, of Vermont. 
As the bill is framed, it seems to be in shape for final passage, 
and it is certainly a bill that we should like to see made into a 
law. Its provisions are generous and it would stir up all those 
States that are in need of an incentive along the lines of indus¬ 
trial education and vocational training.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


35 


The Printing Art, Cambridge, says: 

“We have read with much interest the copy of the bill you 
recently introduced in the Senate to encourage instruction in 
agriculture, the trades, industries, etc. There is a great need of 
the Government undertaking this work.” 

Horticulture, published at Boston, says: 

1 ‘Senate bill 3, by Senator Carroll S. Page, now in the hands of 
the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, provides for Gov¬ 
ernment aid to the States in promoting a better system of educa¬ 
tion along agricultural and industrial lines and home economics. 
The problem of wise and efficient training of young men and 
young women, always a paramount one, becomes now more 
serious than ever, under the restrictions on a broad-gauge, 
mechanical knowledge imposed by existing factory methods in 
the division of labor and by labor union prescriptions. The high 
school, the academy, and the college are taking excellent care of 
those boys who are financially able to avail themselves of their 
advantages, but for him who can not, little remains but the pros¬ 
pect of a cheap manhood. If the entry of the National Govern¬ 
ment into a comprehensive and liberal cooperation with the 
States for instruction in agriculture and the trades will modify 
and improve these defects in our industrial system, then by all 
means let us have it, even if it becomes necessary to economize 
by cutting out a battleship or two. It is an excellent measure, 
and we hope it will receive a favorable reception everywhere. 

Max Mitchell, superintendent of Federated Jewish Charities, 
Boston, Mass., says: 

“I am very much interested in this bill and want to add a 
word of indorsement for the passage of the bill, which tries to 
cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in agricul¬ 
ture, trades, and industries. 

“In the work that I am doing I have for many years felt the 
great need of work of this kind. I feel that the poor boy does 
not get a fair chance or an equal chance with the rich boy or the 
boy of the well-to-do parents to obtain a proper education. In 
the early years, when the child is 14 ana upward, when he is 
about to get the understanding of an education, he must go to 
work and earn enough to help support his home. He is thus 
cut short at the most important time from continuing his studies. 

“I believe in giving education to the great masses of this 
great country instead of the small number of 10 per cent, as is 
given to-day. 

“To my mind no expenditure is too large that gives the people 
of the country a proper understanding of themselves, of the 
conditions surrounding them, and especially a proper under¬ 
standing and a love for whatever professional trade they are 
engaged in, because with that kind of education, I am sure, 
develops a love for one’s country and for one’s neighbors and for 
mankind in general.” 


36 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Mr. Arthur D. Anderson, secretary committee on education, Indus¬ 
trial and Educational Exposition, Boston Chamber of Commerce, 
Boston, says: 

“I note that you have presented a bill in Congress covering 
the subject of industrial education. Inasmuch as the Boston 
Chamber of Commerce is planning an industrial and educational 
exposition to be held in this city during the month of October, 
the subject is of particular interest to us and to everybody in 
New England. The object of this exposition is to stimulate in 
the people of New England, and especially the younger genera¬ 
tion, a realization of the dignity and possibilities of a trade, and 
your work is most opportune.” 

David Snedden, commissioner, the Commonwealth of Massachu¬ 
setts, State board of education, Boston, says: 

“In answer to your kind invitation to attend a conference 
relative to the Page bill, I regret to say that my engagements 
here do not permit me to attend, much as my interests prompt 
me to do so. 

“As a member of the committee which drafted a series of 
suggestions to the National Society for the Promotion of Indus¬ 
trial Education relative to the Page bill, I trust that careful 
attention will be given to certain provisions tending to guarantee 
the efficiency of the education which will be made possible by 
national aid. It would make a very great difference to the 
future of education in this country if at the outset a measure of 
this sort could be so framed as to guarantee standards of effi¬ 
ciency. I commend to your consideration the report presented 
to the national society by our committee, a copy of which I 
inclose. 

“Of course it goes without question that I am in favor of 
any substantial assistance to the cause of industrial education, 
if it can be guaranteed that its administration will proceed along 
sound lines.” 

Kenyon L. Butterfield, president of the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College, says: 

“I am in favor of the passage of the vocational educational 
bill, because I believe the movement for a wise and sane voca¬ 
tional school needs the financial support of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment. 

“I believe that the people generally will stand back of the 
movement.” 

Note. —While Commissioner Snedden and President Butter¬ 
field both have kind words to say about vocational education, 
they criticize some portions of Senate bill No. 3. 

Lewis C. Grandy, editor The Printing Art, Cambridge, says: 

“It is obvious that there is great need for more industrial 
schools in this country, such as those in which German workmen 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


37 


are trained. The establishment of such schools can be brought 
about if a determined effort is made. A comprehensive plan 
for education along agricultural and industrial fines is included 
in a bill Senatoi Page, of Vermont, has recently introduced in 
the United States Senate. This may not be entirely satisfactory 
to everyone and some of the details can, perhaps, be amended 
slightly, but its general purpose is such that it should receive 
hearty support.” 

MICHIGAN. 

Hon. Chase S. Osborn, governor of Michigan, writes: 

“My Dear Senator Page: Your bill to cooperate with the 
various States in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the 
trades and industries, domestic economics in secondary schools, 
etc., is a good measure in my opinion. No nation is better or 
stronger than the average of its people. The activity you seek 
to encourage is necessary, and I hope sincerely that your bill 
will pass.” 

Jesse B. Davis, principal Central High School, Grand Rapids, says: 

“My attention has been called to your bill to encourage voca¬ 
tional education among the States in secondary schools. I have 
read the bill with much interest and wish to express my appre¬ 
ciation of your efforts in this most worthy cause. My expe¬ 
rience of over 16 years in the largest secondary schools of the 
West has made me a strong supporter of this phase of modern 
education.” 

The editor of The Michigan Tradesman, Grand Rapids, says: 

“I am very glad to commend this measure both personally 
and editorially, because I believe it is in the interest of progres¬ 
sive citizenship and good Americanism.” 

MINNESOTA. 

Hon. Moses E. Clapp, United States Senator from Minnesota, says: 

“Am in receipt of your proposed bill. Permit me to say that 
while arbitration treaties and trust regulation laws may com¬ 
mand more attention, there is no measure pending before Con¬ 
gress that exceeds in importance your bill, because it goes to 
the very foundation of all our national problems, the develop¬ 
ment of the citizen. If the Republic will care for the youth of 
the land to-day, the youth will care for the Republic.” 

A. F. Woods, dean and director at the University of Minnesota, 
St. Paul, says: 

“Executive council of the department of agriculture of the 
University of Minnesota, consisting of the dean and chiefs of 
divisions, indorses the Page bill, S. 3, first, because it gives assist- 


38 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


ance through already organized educational agencies; second, 
it includes most agencies that need aid in reorganization for 
industrial education; third, it is a careful worked-out system 
based on actually existing conditions; fourth, the McKinley and 
McLaughlin bills are good as far as they go, but relate only to 
part of the problem/’ 

The editor of the Daily Record, of St. Paul, says: 

“ We are very much interested in this bill, and think it should 
have the support of everybody.” 

Charles P. Craig, of Duluth, uses this language: 

“To my mind no other bill pending before Congress is so 
important to this country at large in a constructive way as this 
bill, because its purpose is to lay the foundation broad by the 
training of all the youth of the Nation for constructive work. 

“Vocational education will not down. The people are 
awakening to its value, and with that awakening grow more 
determined that a national policy of secondary education shall 
be established, just as has been done with higher industrial 
education; consequently your bill admirably fits the growing 
popular demand. Politics and selfish interests may postpone 
out will never prevent, ultimately, the passage of this or a 
similar bill. 

“Of my own knowledge I know of foreign-born parents in 
our city of Duluth who have sent their sons back to the old 
country to learn a trade, with the purpose of coming back here 
and being skilled tradesmen.” 

A. D. Wilson, superintendent University Farm, St. Paul, says: 

“Your letter of December 7 received. This morning we took 
up at our executive council meeting, consisting of the heads 
of divisions in our institution, the matter of the Page bill, S. 3. 
We sent you a telegram expressing our views in favor of the 
bill. A copy of this telegram was sent also to both the Senate 
and House Agricultural Committees, and to Mr. Howard H. 
Gross, who is working for the McKinley bill. We certainly 
believe in the Page bill, and are ready to give any assistance 
we can to secure its passage.” 

C. G. Schulz, superintendent department of public instruction, 
St. Paul, says: 

“I heartily approve the provisions of this measure. It is 
along the same lines as those in which Minnesota has under¬ 
taken to foster that work in connection with high schools, 
secondary agricultural schools, and the college of agriculture. 

“I am fully satisfied that the plan outlined in your bill for 
industrial training, not only in secondary schools but in colleges 
and normal schools, is practical, comprehensive, fair, and 
demanded by present-day conditions. The school must be a 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


39 


training institution which directs the child’s activity, not only 
along one line but many. There must also be the means, in 
professional schools, of fitting leaders, directors, and teachers. 
This your bill makes possible.” 

I he Minnesota State Dairyman’s Association at its annual con¬ 
vention held at Wadena, January 16-19, 1912, passed the following 
resolution: 

“In view of the need of a more practical type of education in 
our schools and the demonstration of improved methods of 
production on our farms, be it 

“Resolved, That this association approve the Page bill intro¬ 
duced in the National Congress with these ends in view. We 
hereby request our Senators and Representatives to do all in 
their power to secure the passage of this measure, the secretary 
of this association to forward copies of this resolution to our 
Senators and Representatives, the chairman of the Senate and 
House Committees on Agriculture, and to Senator Page.” 

MISSISSIPPI. 

J. C. Hardy, president Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of this bill for industrial and vocational 
education. While I appreciate the importance of training ‘cap¬ 
tains of industry,’ yet in my judgment there is a still greater need 
of giving the ‘privates of industry’ that training that will fit 
them for coping with modern industrial conditions and that will 
make them more efficient in dealing with all the complex prob¬ 
lems of modern life. I think the man or woman who is serving 
the world by manual labor is entitled to as much consideration 
by the State and nation as those who are engaged in the pro¬ 
fessions and other intellectual pursuits. 

“This bill, as I view it, is an effort to adapt education to the 
needs of the democracy. The State needs men and women who 
can do things more than it needs men and women of culture. 

“This institution thoroughly indorses your bill, and each and 
every man here stands ready to help in every possible way to 
develop public sentiment that will demand its passage. 

“Our people in hearty sympathy with the principle of bill. 
It means more to the development of our section than any bill 
since Hatch Act. It has full indorsement of this college. All 
conditions should be fixed in bill; leave nothing to be fought out 
in the legislature; command us to fullest.” 

W. L. Hutchinson, dean of the School of Agriculture, Starkville, 
says: 

“Regret I could not be present at the conference of the friends 
of the Page bill; the objects sought to be accomplished by the 
bill are laudable and much to be desired.” 


40 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


MISSOURI. 

William P. Evans, State superintendent of public schools, Jeffer¬ 
son City, says: 

“In general, Senate bill 3, encouraging and aiding industrial 
education has my hearty approval. The purposes of the measure 
are very laudable and I shall be willing to lend my influence 
toward securing its passage. 

“We are hoping to push in this State rapidly the establish¬ 
ment of rural high schools and are proposing to secure a per¬ 
manent fund for this purpose from the voters of Missouri at the 
next general election. It is this proposition that I refer to in 
my letter to Gov. Hadley. The proposition for the permanent 
education fund will be voted upon at the next general election, 
under the initiative and referendum. This, you see, is along 
precisely the same lines as your movement in Senate bill 3, 
to enlarge the unit of taxation. 

“In genera! this measure of Senator Page’s and the measure 
that we are advocating for Missouri is a movement to enlarge 
the taxation unit. They are twin movements, one may say. 
The permanent education fund is a movement to derive funds 
from the State .at large in order to equalize opportunities for 
the weak districts. The same thing may be said of this national 
movement. It is a proposition to make the unit Nation wide, 
and in this broad way equalize opportunities for all of the youth 
of the land. 

“It seems to me that the bill should be amended somewhat 
and should pass. I shall be very glad if you see fit to encourage 
its adoption, even in its present form, for provision is made, 
you will note, that each State shall receive that portion of the 
appropriation for which it is prepared, and if the appropriation 
is made for these district high schools and the district high schools 
are not established, we wul receive the other aid which we are 
ready for. 

“I heartily favor the bill, except the clause relating to district 
agricultural high schools. I advise that the appropriations for 
such schools be added to that for public secondary schools and 
normal schools for brief reasons in a letter which follows.” 

W. G. Carrington, State Normal School, fourth district, Springfield, 
says : 

“I assure you I am doing all I can in my territory to secure 
support for this measure. I am writing some letters to our 
Senators about it.” 

Anthony Ittner, of St. Louis, late chairman of the committee on 
industrial education, National Association of Manufacturers, says: 

“The point with me is to have the Page bill so framed as to 
benefit the 98 per cent of the young men of our country—those 
that need help. The 2 per cent that pass through colleges and 
universities are the sons of wealthy parents who, being able to 
help themselves, do not need help from State Government.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


41 


The editor of the American Woman’s League, St. Louis, says: 

“I am certainly glad to give you my most hearty approval of 
the bill which you call to my attention.” 

The Fruit Grower, St. Joseph, says: 

“Extension and demonstration work of this character by the 
agricultural colleges has been limited on account of lack of suffi¬ 
cient funds for its maintenance. But the Page bill which was 
presented to Congress last April gives promise of affording material 
relief for this kind of work, and to extend the service of the agri¬ 
cultural colleges not only to the farms but to the trades as well. 
Its prime object is to enable the National Government to appro¬ 
priate money to each State for the purpose of enlarging the 
teaching of trades and industries, home economics, and agricul¬ 
ture in the public schools. 

“The provisions of the bill also cover the maintenance of 
branch agricultural experiment stations to be located at the 
agricultural high schools provided for also by the act, and the 
maintenance in each State college of agriculture and mechanic 
arts of an extension department that will materially enlarge 
upon that of the present time. 

“It is certainly to be hoped that this bill will receive early 
enactment, and that the sums of money for which it provides 
will be quickly available, as it is for a purpose that will do more 
good for more people than the construction of all the battleships 
afloat.” 

MONTANA. 

J. M. Hamilton, president Montana Agricultural College, says: 

“We heartily indorse the principles of Federal aid for secondary 
industrial education as set forth in the Page bill, and would espe¬ 
cially emphasize the features providing for agricultural high 
schools and agricultural extension.” 

F. B. Linfield, director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Bozeman, says: 

“As director of the agricultural experiment station and a mem¬ 
ber of our board of farmers’ institutes, am keenly interested in 
educational efficiency on agricultural and industrial lines. I am 
heartily interested in the Federal appropriation as outlined in the 
Page bill. I trust the friends of agricultural education, who all 
agree on the principles at the foundation of these bills, will work 
out a plan of development that will be satisfactory and beneficial 
to all interested.” 

The editor of the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, Great Falls, says: 

“We heartily indorse your bill. Hope it may pass.” 


42 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


NEBRASKA. 

Mr. J. W. Crabtree, State superintendent, department of public 
instruction, Lincoln, says: 

“ Permit me to thank you for sending me a copy of the bill 
which you introduced offering encouragement to the teaching of 
agriculture in the public schools, normal schools, and colleges of 
the country. I sincerely hope you may be able to secure the 
passage of this bill. If its provisions are carried out, this infor¬ 
mation and instruction in agriculture and home economics 
will be brought right down to the homes of the people. It seems 
to me that this is the important step to be taken at this time. 
I shall watch with interest the progress of this bill and use my 
influence wherever possible in its behalf.” 

Editor Hatch, of the Nebraska Farm Journal, writes: 

“There is no man of average information and intelligence but 
who knows that this country is letting the brains of the Nation 
go to waste because no adequate vocational training is provided 
for the large middle class of America. Your bill seems to pro¬ 
vide the only practical way to quicken, increase, and develop 
the average American deficiency. We' hope your measure will 
pass.” 

E. C. Bishop, former State superintendent of public instruction, 
State of Nebraska, says: 

“A copy of the bill, S. 3, which you kindly inclosed, meets my 
approval, and I am glad to do what I can to encourage its 
passage.” 

NEVADA. 

John Edwards Bray, superintendent of public instruction, Carson, 
says: 


“I heartily approve Page bill for encouraging instruction in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics in 
secondary schools. If the secondary schools are to get into 
touch with the industrial progress of the age, all these things 
must be made features of practical instruction. National aid is 
needed, and it will be worth more than a thousand battleships.” 

The several district educational institutes of Nevada have re¬ 
cently held meetings at Elko, Tonopah, and Las Vegas. At every 
one of those institutes this bill was one of the important subjects of 
discussion, and at each meeting the bill was very strongly indorsed. 

At the Elko institute the following resolution was adopted: 

“Resolved, That we approve the Page bill now pending in the 
United States Senate providing for National aid in the various 
States for agricultural and industrial training in the high schools, 
as a measure of enlightened statesmanship. The bill proposes to 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


43 


place yearly at the disposal of the States several millions of 
dollars, the first use of the money to be for the preparation of 
teachers for this work. Instead of putting millions of dollars into 
a single battleship for the destruction of human lives, how much 
better to use it for education. 

11 Resolved, That we call upon our Representatives in Congress 
to support this bill, fraught as it is with so many possibilities for 
good to the toiling millions of the Nation.” 

At Tonopah Institute the following resolution was adopted: 

“ Whereas there is pending in the United States Senate a 
measure known as the Page bfll, which has for its object the ap¬ 
propriation of national funds to aid and encourage agricultural 
and industrial training in the secondary (high) schools of all the 
States; and 

“Whereas such expenditure would be of vastly more benefit 
to our country than the millions now annually spent in building 
battleships for the destruction of human life or for useless display: 
Therefore be it 

11 Resolved, That we strongly favor the Page bill and earnestly 
request Senators Newlands and Nixon and Representative 
Roberts to give it their support.” 

At the Las Vegas Institute the following resolution was adopted: 

“Be it resolved, That we favor the introduction of the elements 
of agriculture and industrial training in the school curriculum. 

r We commend the Page bill, now pending in the United States 
Senate. It proposes to appropriate national funds for agricul¬ 
tural and industrial education in the various States, first for the 
training of teachers and then for the maintenance of such instruc¬ 
tion in all secondary schools. It means eventually the disburse¬ 
ment of $12,000,000 or more annually for education instead of 
putting the same into useless battleships.”' 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

J. C. Kendall, director New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment 
Station, New Hampshire College, Durham, says: 

“I am in hearty sympathy with the work which the Southern 
Commercial Congress has undertaken in pushing the Page bill, 
and I would like very much to be present at the conference 
which is to be held in Washington December 14, 15, and 16, but 
I am afraid that it will not be possible for me to be away at that 
time. 

“A large problem before the people of the United States to-day 
is putting within the reach of all the opportunity for education 
along the lines of their every-day life. We must change our 
school system in such a way that they will recognize the fact 
that when properly treated and when suitable instructors are 
provided there will be just as good training in the study of farm 
problems as in reading Greek. 


44 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


“I wish for you and your associates and the organization that 
you represent success in the passage of this bill, which will 
mean so much to the future industrial development and prosper¬ 
ity of the country.” 

NEW JERSEY. 

Hon. James E. Martine, United States Senator, says: 

“I have read with much interest Senate bill 3, introduced by 
you. I most heartily favor the same and shall vote for it when 
the same comes before the Senate. I have sometimes said that 
1 higher education - has run mad, forgetting agriculture and other 
industrial pursuits, which is in reality the foundation of all our 
hopes and achievements. I agree with you that this bill is a 
most righteous one and deserves the support of all.” 

Franklin Dye, secretary of the State board of agriculture, Trenton, 
writes : 


“Believing your work to be in the right direction, I can but 
wish you good success.” 

E. R. Johnstone, superintendent of the training school at Vineland, 
writes: 


“I have received your letter of December 1 and a copy of 
Senate bill 3, introduced April 6. May I express my hearty 
approval of its provisions?” 

NEW MEXICO. 

William H. Andrews, Territorial Delegate from New Mexico, says: 

“It will give me great pleasure to do everything in my power 
to help you pass Senate bill 3. I thoroughly believe in this bill, 
which I have read carefully.” 

B. S. Gowen, president New Mexico Normal University, says: 

“I am interested in the bill whose purpose it is to encourage 
instruction in agriculture, the trades, and home economics. Such 
work as this is of unusual importance in New Mexico, where we 
have so large a population that it must necessarily depend on 
other lines besides those in which scholarship of the ordinary kind 
plays the chief part.” 


NEW YORK. 

Eli W. Weaver, chairman of students’ aid committee of the High 
School Teachers’ Association, New York City, says: 

“There are in New York City to-day thousands of young 
people who have been trained to high ideals in the homes of 
self-sacrificing parents, who have deserved and received con- 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


45 


siderate treatment in the schools and who have enjoyed the 
respect and esteem of their associates, who have afterwards gone 
out to earn their own living in those occupations usually open 
to young people; but too frequently these young people have 
been compelled to wander around for days in an aimless search 
for employment; they have been persuaded to accept places at 

E itiful wages, with promises of advancement, in which they 
ave afterwards learned that there were never any prospects of 
advancement; they have outgrown places in which there was 
no special skill or knowledge to be acquired, from which they 
were turned out without faith either in themselves or their 
fellow men or a belief in the existence of a sense of fairness or 
justice in society. However well equipped the barks in which 
the youthful sailors launch out on the troublesome seas of com¬ 
mercial and industrial life may be, the chances are against them 
unless they are provided with sailing directions. Since society 
musj in some way or other care for the disheartened, the broken- 
spirited, and the ruined, it might be well for society to provide 
the sailing directions.” 

The Times, Rochester, says: 

“A bill has been introduced into Congress by Senator Carroll 
S. Page, of Vermont, which if passed will greatly aid in the 
extension of agricultural schools in this country. The bill has 
met with a favorable reception. 

“New York State is making large expenditures for agricul¬ 
tural and vocational training, but the demand has outrun the 
available funds in the State treasury. There is no more valu¬ 
able form of education, and the value increases every year. 
With a proper knowledge of scientific agriculture the produc¬ 
tion of farm lands in this country could be vastly increased. 
Within recent years there has been a big increase in the prices 
of food products. Unless there is an increase in agricultural 
products, prices are certain to go still higher. This will mean 
a still further increase in the cost of living, which many persons 
now find oppressive. The most practical remedy in sight for 
this condition seems an increase m agricultural schools. Such 
an increase would result from the Page bill if made a law.” 

Mr. Dean, chief of the division of trade schools, New York, says: 

“The school of yesterday trained its youth for a job, while 
the school of to-morrow will train its youth for a vocation. It 
provides for every vocation for which there is reasonable demand 
and in that school the boy must remain until there is ground 
for believing that he has found a calling for which nature and 
his own effort has prepared him. 

“My father sent me to a school of yesterday so much that I 
very nearly missed an education. 

“The school of to-morrow will have over its door, ‘We con¬ 
serve the whole boy.”’ 


46 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Francis J. Cheney, principal State normal and training school, 
Cortland, says: 

“I regret exceedingly that I shall not be able to be present at 
the conference of the friends of the Page bid, Senate bill 3, on 
December 14, 15, and 16 on account of duties in connection with 
my work as principal of the State normal school. I am very 
greatly interested in this bill, and believe that its passage will be 
for the best interests of the young people whom we are training 
for citizenship. Certainly the idea embodied in the bill is taking 
a great hold on the country. The Page bill is an effort in the 
right direction to the better fitting of our young people for useful 
and successful lives. If there is anything which I can do to 
assist in the passage of the bill do not hesitate to let me know.” 

Benjamin It. Andrews, secretary treasurer of the Teachers College, 
New York City, says: 

“I am glad to know that your bill for Federal aid to education 
is securing increasing support. I judge from the talk of economy 
that it may be impossible to secure enactment at this session, but 
I hope that you can get favorable action in the Senate. It will 
be a great step forward.” 

The Knickerbocker Press, Albany, says: 

“The Page bill seems admirably suited to promote the ends 
desired, and its advocates should receive the fullest cooperation 
from the representatives of the Empire State.” 

The National Provisioner, New York, says: 

“The bill of Senator Page deserves really active, not merely 
perfunctory, support. 

“Educators of national reputation are giving their support 
to the bill, and it should pass; but, like all measures proposed in 
Congress, merit alone will not be sufficient to secure its enact¬ 
ment. Public sentiment must be aroused and its virtues made 
known. 

“This seems to be a sensible, systematic way of increasing 
knowledge of how to expand our supply of live stock and other 
agricultural products, as well as to educate the future genera¬ 
tions in other useful directions.” 

The Standard, Watertown, says: 

“Senator Page, of Vermont, deserves hearty support in his 
measure to promote vocational training and instruction in agri¬ 
culture in the public schools.” 

C. W. Burkett, editor of the American Agriculturist, New York 
says: 

“I am very much interested in your bill, which proposes that 
the National Government shall cooperate with the States in 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


47 


encouraging instruction in agriculture, the trades, industries, 
and home economics in secondary schools and in preparing 
teachers for these vocational subjects. I do not hesitate to say 
that this measure, if enacted into law, will be of the utmost 
benefit, not only to agriculture, but to the entire country. 

“ I have made a very careful examination of the bill and have 
studied the needs of the schools for a great many years, and I 
am confident that this measure is one of the most needful now 
before Congress, and that I am expressing the opinion of tens 
and hundreds of thousands of farmers and industrial people 
when I urge the passage of this measure. 

“The American Agriculturist weeklies are with you heart 
and soul in this matter. In the past we have given page after 
page to the effort to secure a better system of education along 
agricultural and industrial lines. Just recently I have had an 
editorial telling about the Page bill and what it seeks to do. 
We shall keep right at this matter, hoping that in the end the 
idea will win.” 

The Business Men’s Association of Newburgh gives expression to 
a most important thought in this language: 

“The lack of knowledge of how to till the soil is the great 
economic evil of our country, and it can easily be corrected by 
teaching the rising generation the art of agriculture. No 
nation can be truly great that is not firmly established on a 
sound agricultural basis. 

“Everyone takes a great interest and pleasure in his work, 
no matter what it is, if he can do it well, and his joy is in his 
work in proportion to his skill. 

“The dissatisfied workers resort to strikes and employers to 
lockouts, creating enmity where there should be friendship and 
cooperation.” 

* • * * * * * * 

“Are we leading the world, as we should do, in solving this 
problem ? Are we even abreast of other nations in this respect ? 
No; by no-means. We are perhaps third or fourth to Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, Denmark, and probably Sweden. What 
are they doing that is better than our methods ? They are first 
developing children physically and training their hands as 
much as the brains and giving each a trade. Rich and poor 
alike must learn a trade, even to the sons of the Emperor of 
Germany. They have then an appreciation of the dignity of 
labor instead of despising it, as we do. 

“We have great conventions of governors in Washington to 
beg for a conservation of the resources of our country, when our 
Nation’s greatest resources, the lives and health of our children, 
are being squandered in nearly every school in the country.” 

The Engineering News, New York City, says: 

“I heartily agree with vou that the greatest need of the country 
to-day is to better the instruction in our common schools and 
secondary schools, so as to better fit the students therein for the 
real work of life.” 

S. Kept. 405, 62-2-4 


48 


VOCATIOXAL EDUCATION. 


The Times, Glens Falls, says: 

“ Among the great mass of measures introduced in Congress 
there occasionally is one especially worthy and one calculated to 
be of service in advancing the interests of the people of the coun¬ 
try. Such a measure the Page bill, introduced by Senator Car- 
roll S. Page, of Vermont, for the promotion of vocational and, 
especially, agricultural training in the public schools of the coun¬ 
try, appears to be.” 

Director J. G, Schurman, president of Cornell University, says: 

“I am greatly interested in the subject, as I feel very deeply the 
need of making better provisions than we now have for encourag¬ 
ing instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home 
economics in institutions of instruction readily accessible to the 
mass of our people.” 

The Commercial, Buffalo, says: 

“ There is little doubt that eventually some system similar to 
that proposed by Senator Page will become effective. More and 
more the attention of the country is being turned to the necessity 
of better facilities for industrial and agricultural education for the 
young of the rural sections, and tlie present bill, while it may have 
its defects, is sure to have its influence in securing legislation 
along the lines suggested. 

‘‘It is a remarkable coincidence that another Vermont man, 
Senator Morrill, was the father of the bill which established the 
State college of agriculture and mechanic arts.” 

Chancellor James R. Day, of Syracuse University, says: 

“It is not enough to educate a few specialists for management 
of large estates or the farms of fancy farmers. Farm education 
should be as extensive as farming. It should be within reach of 
all parts of the State as plain, practical courses of study, illus¬ 
trated by object lessons of farms and grounds and by animals, 
plants, fruits, insects, friendly and destructive birds, beneficial 
and harmful, and in practical farm industries and in higher 
courses in chemistry, bacteriology, soil analysis, and animal and 
plant breeding, farm economics, farm architecture and engineer¬ 
ing. In short, the farmers should be prepared for their high 
calling, as are the doctors, lawyers, and teachers. The time 
must come, is inevitable, when the farmer, ignorant of his calling 
and conditions, will be as unusual and impossible as an ignorant 
doctor or lawyer at his practice.” 

The editor of the Financial World of New York, says: 

“We quite approve of any effort made that will lead to an 
increased efficiency of our men of to-morrow.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 49 

Mr. L. P. Alford, editor of the American Machinist, New York 
City, says: 

“Your letter of July 17, with its inclosure, a copy of Senate 
bill 3, is before me. I have read both with a great deal of interest. 
For some four yearn I have been studying the problem of indus¬ 
trial education, and a great deal of space has been devoted to 
it in our journal. 

“As a simple act of justice it seems to me that our Federal 
Government should appropriate funds for the furthering of the 
education of industrial workers in the same way that it fosters 
the spread of agricultural knowledge. 

“I most heartily agree with the sentiment expressed in your 
letter, to the effect that we must do something for the boys and 
girls of the great middle classes in order to really fit them for 
earning a livelihood. We are far behind Germany and Switzer¬ 
land in this particular. Something must be done at once to aid 
in transforming the green boy of the country and the untrained 
lad of the city into men trained and educated in some trade or 
vocation from which they can earn a comfortable living, and by 
the exercise of which they will be valuable units in our industrial 
life. I shall watch the course of this bill with a great deal of 
interest. The purpose, of this bill is worthy and I shall support 
it as far as it is proper for me to do in the columns of my journal.” 

A. S. Draper, commissioner of education of the State of New York, 
says: 

“I have yours of December 4, inclosing a copy of Senate bill 3 
and some memoranda bearing thereon. I am not convinced that 
this bill is a wise one, and am therefore unable to send you such 
a letter as you request.” 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

D. H. Hill, president College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 
Raleigh, sa 3 T s: 

‘ ‘I have gone over the bill, which you were kind enough to send 
me, with a great deal of care. The general features of the bill 
commend themselves very strongly to my judgment. The 
Nation certainly needs training along the lines suggested in the 
measures embodied in this bill, and I hope that the general plan 
may be carried out. 

‘ ‘I spent most of last week in Washington and was sorry that I 
could not have some conversation with you while I was there. I 
shall certainly do all in my power to get our two Senators to sup¬ 
port the bill which your committee is drafting. If at any time 
you see any way in "which I can be of service to the measure, I 
shall be very glad to hear from you.” 


50 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


C. N. Evans, of the board of governors of the Southern Commercial 
Congress, Wilmington, says: 

“Regret I can not appear before you in warm support of the 
Page bill. In the interest of a broader national view and of our 
children especially, I urge the adoption of the Page bill and trust 
its provisions may meet the approval of your committee/’ 

J. Y. Joyner, superintendent of public instruction of North Caro¬ 
lina, says: 

“I heartily favor the passage of the bill. 

“About 82 per cent of the people in the Southern States are 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. No adequate provision has 
been made by any State for the proper education and training of 
children for the pursuits that the large majority of our people 
are now following for a living. 

“The bill proposes to stimulate and help the States to help 
themselves without being paternalistic, without interfering with 
the autonomy of the State systems of education, or without any 
undue interference in any way by Federal authority with State 
authority/’ 

The editor of the Progressive Farmer Gazette, Raleigh, says: 

“We shall be only too glad to do all in our power to help carry 
out your ideas. The measure meets with our hearty approval. 

Hon. William W. JCitchin, governor of North Carolina, says: 

“In reply to your letter of the 11th, I favor the extension of 
agricultural, mechanical, and industrial education and favor the 
general purposes of the bill which you inclosed.” 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

George A. McFarland, president State normal school, Valley City, 
says: 

“I know of nothing that would be so influential in bringing 
our educational practice up to the practical demands of the times 
as the passage of the Page Senate bill. Our high schools, normal 
schools, and colleges need the stimulation this bill will give them.” 

J. W. Preston, president normal school at Madison, says: 

* “Our State teachers’ association last week .indorsed Senate 
bill 3 and urge our congressional delegation to support same. 
Educational sentiment in this State strongly favors the bill.” 

J. H. Worst, president North Dakota Agricultural College, says: 

“I am in hearty sympathy with the bill,” but adds that he 
thinks that the agricultural college should be somehow connected 
with the frame-up as the experiment station is with the experi¬ 
mental work provided for in the bill. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


51 


Hon. L. B. Hanna, M. C., says: 

“ I am in receipt of your letter of 9th instant. It goes without 
saying, Senator, that 1 will do everything I possibly can to help 
you to push this matter along. I believe the bill is right.” 

OHIO. 

Hon. J. J. Whitacre, M. C., Ohio, says: 

“I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind invitation asking 
me to take part in the conference called December 14-16 for the 
discussion of the Page vocational educational bill. I regret to 
say that I can not attend because of meetings of the House 
Agriculture Committee, but I hasten to assure you that I am in 
complete sympathy with the objects of the bill, and anything I can 
do to further the movement, as a member of the House Agricul¬ 
ture Committee, will be done most willingly and cheerfully.” 

Henry G. Williams, dean of the State Normal College of Ohio, and 
member of the national committee on agricultural education, says: 

“Your notice of the 7th concerning the meeting of the Senate 
committee, December 14, 15, 16, at hand. I would like very 
much to be present and assist in presenting the matter to the 
committee. It may be possible for me to do so. If I am not 
present, you may expect a night letter. I am very much inter¬ 
ested in it, and have done as much perhaps as any one else to 
further the campaign on behalf of Senate bill 3.” 

The editor of Farm News, Springfield, says: 

“If we can be of any assistance, we shall be glad to do so. Of 
course w’e will undertake to keep it as much as possible before 
the people.” 

The editor of the Farm and Fireside, of Springfield, writes: 

“I believe that the future of agriculture in this country depends 
upon a basic reform in rural schools in the direction of the corre¬ 
lation of the rural schools with rural life. I am therefore 
intensely interested in your letter and in the bill which accom¬ 
panies it, and promise you the active cooperation of Farm and 
Fireside in so far as our space will permit. Personally I think 
the bill would accomplish an educational revolution of the most 
beneficent sort.” 

B. M. Davis, president of the agricultural and rural education 
department of the National Education Association, Oxford, says: 

“I am greatly interested in the provisions of the bill, and have 
been ever since the matter was first started.” 


52 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Dr. W. 0. Thompson, president Ohio State University, Columbus, 
made quite extended suggestions as to amendments which he thought 
should be made to the bill as originally introduced, and although he 
says in a letter to Senator Page “I am cordially in favor of the prin¬ 
ciples of your bill” he was opposed to some of its features. The 
same can be said as to State School Commissioner Lester S. Ivins, of 
Lebanon. 

The following paragraph is taken from a letter received from him 
and shows his general ideas touching the bill: 

“If you can arrange your bill to give the public high.schools 
(not district agricultural schools where they have not been 
established) and the public elementary schools just recognition 
and in every respect on an equal with the agricultural college, 
experiment station, and normal schools we would think a great 
deal more of your bill.” 

Dr. Thompson, however, was appointed by the educational gath¬ 
ering which assembled at Washington, December 14, 15, and 16, as 
one of a committee of seven to revise and suggest amendments to 
the bill, and with some few exceptions the bill as now rewritten re¬ 
ceives his approval. 

OKLAHOMA. 

Gov. Lee Cruce, of Oklahoma, says: 

“I wish to thank you for copy of Senate bill 3 introduced 
by you. 

“I shall be glad to cooperate in any way possible with the 
State superintendent to bring about proper action along this 
line.” 

R. H. Wilson, superintendent, department of education, State of 
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, says: 

/‘I want to say that I can not speak too highly of the Page 
bill. It will certainly be of great assistance to this section of 
the country.” 

J. H. Connell, president Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
Stillwater, says: 

“Oklahoma is earnestly in favor of this bill because with Fed¬ 
eral aid we can quickly reach 5,000 common schools and de¬ 
velop a new agricultural civilization. 

“We are not waiting for the Federal Government, but would 
quickly and largely benefit by the wisely expended assistance 
provided by this measure. 

“Ifavor the immediate passage of the Page bill with some 
minor amendments.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 53 

Grant B. G rumline, president Northwestern State Normal School, 
Alva, says: 

“In the November issue of our monthly bulletin, which goes to 
about 1,800 school-teachers in this part of the State, we are urg¬ 
ing that each of them use their influence for the Page bill. Senate 
bill 3.” 

James A. Wilson, director Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Stillwater, says: 

“I am sending to-night by Western Union wire a night letter 
expressing as strongly as my vocabulary is able to the position 
which we take in Oklahoma toward the Page bill. Oklahoma 
stands squarely for the Page bill. Anticipating this nation-wide 
industrial system of education our State constitution directed 
our legislature to provide for such instruction in the common 
schools. Our normal and agricultural high schools are doing the 
grade of work indicated in the Page bill. It provides for our 
greatest need. I wish you the greatest possible success in this 
worthy movement.” 

OREGON. 

W. J. Kerr, president Oregon State Agricultural College, Corvallis, 
says: 

“Your favor of the 4th instant, with inclosures, has just 
reached me. I heartily approve the general purpose of the bill 
as set forth in the resolution adopted by the Senate Committee 
on Agriculture and Forestry.” 

The editor of the Rural Spirit, Portland, says: 

“I most heartily approve of your educational bill, and assure 
you of my appreciation of your efforts along this line, and of 
my willingness to cooperate at any and all times.” 

The editor of the Northwest Poultry Journal, Salem, says: 

“I congratulate you on the bill. It ought to pass.” 

The Rural Spirit and Willamette Farmer, published at Portland 
says: 

“This bill was introduced by Carroll S. Page, has been twice 

* read and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. 
It is especially intended to aid agriculture, and is a very merito¬ 
rious bill, and should have the support of farmers through their 
Representatives in Congress.” 


54 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Hon. Oswald West, governor of Oregon, says: 

“Your letter of December 11 and inclosed copy of your Senate 
bill 3, together with data in regard thereto, reached my office dur¬ 
ing my absence in the East. From the hurried view that I have 
been able to give your bill its general provisions meet with my 
approval. I can say as a general proposition that any measure 
which has to do with the betterment and upbuilding of the agri¬ 
cultural school system meets with my approval if drafted along 
sane and consistent lines. 

“I wish you success in this direction.” 

The Pacific Banker, Portland, says: 

“Some time ago it was our pleasure to make brief favorable 
comment upon a bill which one of our active Senators, Page, of 
Vermont, has introduced in the Senate, and which we again wish 
to give editorial indorsement because of its peculiar significance 
to the entire country, and to further encourage, if need be, the 
action of the committees appointed from Oregon, Washington, 
Idaho, and other western States in its behalf. 

“The question which he agitates and which he would thus aid 
and abet is not new. There is no denial of the fact that the 
greatest phase of the problem of maintaining the future pros¬ 
perity of this country lies in the need of our better knowledge, 
and the better knowledge of the generations to come, of the 
science of agriculture. It is eminently fit that the banker should 
lend his influence to the indorsement of Mr. Page’s recommenda¬ 
tion, which has already had the recognition of the Senate, for if 
we are ever going to bring about permanent systems of agricul¬ 
ture in this country the banker above every other business man 
has got to lend unto the endeavor his unfailing energy.” 

The Pacific Banker, Portland, says: 

“Luckily for Mr. Page and the ultimate passage of his bill, 
the question which he agitates and which he would thus aid 
and abet is not new. The need of conserving nature’s gifts to 
man in the forces of the soil, as well as the educating of our 
youth and old men in the way of this tiling of greatest importance, 
was recognized years ago by the thinkers of the country, and 
they have been laboring assiduously to awaken our smoldering 
faculties to the great danger of popular indifference to the 
fact, and the inevitable and far-reaching calamity it portends. 
One of these thinkers—and he was a banker—said not long since: 
'If something isn’t done in this special educational work soon, this 
is not going to be the “Land of the Free,” for it is fast becoming 
the land of ignorance.’ And he went on to say that there is 
no possible question before the American people to-day that 
will anywhere touch in importance to them, as will this question 
of special education along the line of the mechanical industries 
and agriculture.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


55 


PENNSYLVANIA. 

E. E. Powers, secretary of the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Asso¬ 
ciation, Pennsdale, says: 

“M/e are all rapidly realizing the paramount importance of 
proper educational facilities as the mam agent in eliminating the 
serious problems of country life. As the prime mover in bring¬ 
ing this question before the country as a concrete demand, we 
would like to have you speak, if possible, on the subject of the 
Page bill.” 

P. M. Tyler, principal Chester Agricultural High School, says: 

“Unable to attend conference, but we realize urgent need for 
the Page bill.” 

Hon. John K. Tener, governor of Pennsylvania, says: 

“Your letter of the 11th instant, together with a copy of 
Senate bill 3, is now before me. 

“I have been holding the same, hoping to have the opportu¬ 
nity to read the bill. I have only done so to-day. 

“From a cursory examination of the bill, I can see nothing 
objectionable, and as I understand it, the object has been indorsed 
by the State board of education and the convention of normal 
school principals. It also meets with the ideas, I understand, of 
our superintendent of public instruction, Hr. Nathan C. Schaeffer. 

“ I sincerely hope the bill may become a law.” 

George M. Philips, secretary State board of education, West Ches¬ 
ter, says: 

“The State board of education of Pennsylvania strongly in¬ 
dorses this movement and Senator Page's bill, and at its direc¬ 
tion I sent a letter, as secretary of the board, to every Senator 
and Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania. This w^as 
very favorably received. Senator Penrose and a number of 
others promised to support the bill, and the others promised it 
careful consideration. I very much hope that this measure will 
pass this winter. You will get valuable and important support 
from Pennsylvania.” 

Andrew Thomas Smith, principal State normal school, Mansfield, 
says: 

“I w r rite to add my word of encouragement and to express the 
hope that the measure may be passed through Congress at this 
session. 

“It is a bill which will lend very great aid to a measure now 
occupying the chief place of attention among the educators of 
our countrv.” 


56 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Mrs. L. L. Blankenburg, vice president General Federation of 
Women’s Clubs, Philadelphia, writes: 

“Senator Page, you recognize the fact that women are not 
your constituents, except in six of the Western States and that 
our wishes do not have much weight with Congress, but if there 
is sufficient publicity given to this bill I believe club women 
will use such influence as they can command to secure its 
passage.” 

Thomas F. Hunt, Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture, says: 

“For a number of years I have been deeply interested in the 
movement for the introduction of industrial training in the 
secondary schools of this country as expressed in your bill. I 
believe it to be one of the most far-reaching movements for the 
progress of this country that has been before Congress in many 
years.” 

The editor of the Tobacco World of Philadelphia says: 

“Have given the bill hearty indorsement in editorial.” 

The Times, McKeesport, says: 

“A conference on Senator Page’s vocational bill is to be held 
in Washington, beginning with to-morrow. This measure is 
intended to provide a course of studies for the rising genera¬ 
tion which is not now afforded in all of the public schools, and 
if the bill goes through Congress and becomes a national law 
its results should be very beneficial. This bill as an educa¬ 
tional idea far transcends in importance all the political sparring 
of the session just opened, for it reaches down to the child upon 
whose life and efficiency national life and efficiency depend. 

“The purpose of Senator Page’s bill is to add vocational studies 
to our public-school system.. It follows closety upon the idea 
of Senator Justin Morrill, precessor of Senator Carroll S. Page, 
of Vermont. Former Senator Morrill was the father of the 
so-called land-grant act of 1862 , establishing the State colleges 
of agriculture and mechanic arts, and Senator Page’s bill is 
intended to carry down to the secondary schools industrial 
education which Senator Morrill’s bill created in State agri¬ 
cultural and mechanical schoQls. 

'‘Combining all of the features of the bill, it can be said to 
. be a unified movement to have the Government aid in adding 
vocational work in the public schools throughout the States. 
The bill should interest every father and mother and every 
employer who wish our schools to prepare young people more 
especially for definite profitable work. It should meet with 
almost universal indorsement throughout the entire country, as 
it is a good measure tending in the right direction.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


57 


Wilmer Atkinson, editor Farm Journal, Philadelphia, says: 

“I have your esteemed favor of the 20th. We shall do what 
we can for the Page bill, but we have many, many things to do 
for. I am glad the educators who met in Washington have 
indorsed your bill and will work for it. 

“Your bill commends itself to my judgment. While tech¬ 
nical schools have been educating coordinately the hand and 
brain of the favored few of the land, the great mass of our youth 
are forced to begin the battle of life clumsily equipped for the 
struggle. Nowhere is technical training more urgently needed 
than on the farm and in the household. The demand of the 
time is for scientific efficiency, and this is the only lever that can 
lift agriculture to its rightful place. 

“The National Government can not spend money for a better 
purpose than in providing every normal boy and girl in the land 
with a fair and equal chance. A nation of efficient workers is a 
nation committed to universal peace and world-wide prosperity. 
The bill is a reform and I hope that it will come quickly.” 

RHODE ISLAND. 


Mr. E. E. Balcomb, of the Rhode Island Normal School and secre¬ 
tary of the National Education Association, department of rural 
and agricultural education, and secretary” of the national committee 
on agricultural education, writes: 

“Was very glad to get your letter and to note that you are 
not afraid to put yourself on record in favor of education as 
against battleships. Our committee hopes to carry on an exten¬ 
sive campaign favoring this bill. ,, 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

D. B. Johnson, president of the Southern Educational Association, 
and of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rockhill, says: 

“The condition of rural delivery can be improved best and 
more surely by relating the work of rural schools to the life of 
the people served by them. To do this, elementary agriculture, 
home economics, and such practical subjects must be taught in 
the rural schools. 

“The interests of the agricultural classes demand the passage 
of this bill. 

“I have just returned from Houston, Tex., where the annual 
meeting of the Southern Educational Association was held and 
where I wrote and presented the resolutions which were adopted 
by the association. One of those resolutions indorsed the Page 
bill. I thought you would be glad to have this resolution, and I 
inclose you a copy. 

“The Southern Educational Association was attended by 
representatives of all the educational interests of all the Southern 
States, and the resolution indorsing the Page bill ought to have 
some effect with southern Congressmen. 


58 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


‘ ‘ I have been working for your bill as a member of the national 
committee on agricultural education, and you may count on me to 
do everything in my power to push the passage of the Page bill.” 

E. J. Watson, commissioner of the department of agriculture, com¬ 
merce and industries, Columbia, says: 

11 1 am in receipt of yours of December 7, inviting me to person¬ 
ally attend or send a representative to Washington to attend the 
conference on the Page bill. I regret that absence from the State 
prevented my receiving your letter in time even to send the night 
tetter requested. 

“I wish to assure you that this has been in no measure due to 
any lack of interest in this important matter, for there is no more 
earnest advocate on secondary agricultural and industrial educa¬ 
tion to be found in the country than myself. In the future, if 
there is anything I can do in this or any other matter of equal 
importance to the South, I trust you will not hesitate to call 
upon me.” 

J. E. Swearingen, State superintendent of education, Columbia: 

“ Senate bill 3 can do South Carolina no earthly harm. If it 
could be amended in some important particulars, I believe its 
provisions would secure better and more desirable results; but 
rather than see the measure fail I should be glad to see it enacted 
at the present session of Congress.” 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

C. G. Lawrence, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Pierre, says: 

‘ 1 Regret my inability to be present at meeting December 14; 
am in hearty accord with the general principles of Page bill, 
and shall do all in my power to help secure its enactment. Such 
a law will meet with general favor in this State.” 

J. H. Hetley, county superintendent of schools, Webster, says: 

“The Page bill is good from my point of view. It will build up 
an immense corps of suggestive supervisors for the whole country. 
It will stimulate the agricultural movement and ,at the same time 
furnish some sane restraints upon the expenditure of public 
moneys.” 

TENNESSEE. 

Dr. P. P. Claxton, until recently connected with the department of 
education in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, but who has 
recently been appointed commissioner of education, says: 

“Your letter of June 26, inclosing copy of Senate bill 3, has 
been received. With the general outline of the bill I am in most 
hearty sympathy, and hope some law of this kind may soon be 
enacted by Congress.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


59 


The editor of the Progressive Teacher, Nashville, says: 

“I am ready and anxious to cooperate with.you heartily and 
in every way possible.” 


TEXAS. 

Mr. A. Caswell Ellis, professor philosophy of education, division 
department extension, Austin, says: 

“A copy of your bill on agricultural education, together with 
your letter, was handed to me by Prof. Sutton, on account of the 
fact that I have been especially interested in this matter both 
here and abroad. 

“Let me express my very heartiest commendation of this bill. 
I wdsh especially to commend the encouragement of agricultural 
and industrial education in our normal schools, so that we have 
a supply of teachers in our regular schools who are competent to 
teach these subjects and are in sympathy with them. 

“Really, the success or the failure of the secondary agricultural 
education rests upon the training and character of men who teach 
this subject. 

“I wish also to especially commend that feature in your bill 
which allows either special agricultural high schools or regular 
high schools with properly organized agricultural departments 
to secure the benefit of this appropriation. 

“I feel that I should apologize for intruding so much upon 
your attention, but the matter is one that greatly interests me 
and upon which I have done a great deal of work.” 

The editor of Farm and Ranch, Dallas, says: 

“It is a most excellent measure and one that is designed to 
stimulate education in behalf of the farms and those who most 
need this practical information.” 

The editor of the Texas Stockman and Farmer, San Antonio, writes: 

“ Copy of your bill with view to promoting a better system of 
education along agricultural lines received. We will do all we 
can to aid you.” 

The Daily Texas Live Stock Reporter says: 

“This letter of Senator Page’s is given because the importance 
of the subject commends it "to the consideration of the people. 
We spend millions of dollars in teaching our children things that 
are of no practical value to them in the struggle for existence. 
We call them to do work that we give them no training for 
doing; we demand the tale of brick but we furnish no straw. 
Efficiency is value to the worker and to the Nation. The youth 
who goes out of school with a trained mind and hand is equipped 
for the battle that all must fight before success can be achieved. 
The money that is ^wasted in years of instruction in branches of 


60 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


learning that profits nothing because it is never applied would, 
if spent in teaching our children how to do things and the phi¬ 
losophy of practical affairs, count in making them more valuable 
as citizens and making us as a nation more forceful in the affairs 
of the world. Senator Page’s plan is the beginning of a change 
for the better that deserves the approval of all thoughtful men.” 

F. M. Bralley, State superintendent of education, Austin, sa}^s: 

“I have read Senate bill No. 3, recently received from you, 
and wish to say that the enactment of said bill into law would 
be of incalculable value to the educational interests of Texas 
and the entire country. I therefore heartily indorse the bill 
and express the hope that it will be given the support of every 
intelligent, patriotic Member of the United States Congress.” 

UTAH. 

W. M. Stewart, principal of the State Normal School, Salt Lake 
City, says: 

“Our objection primarily is to the establishment of district 
agricultural schools of secondary grade and not to the other pro¬ 
visions of the bill. We believe strongly in industrial and voca¬ 
tional subjects as a part of the curriculum of the high school, but 
we think that the establishment of State district agricultural 
schools of secondary grade would be detrimental to our already 
established high schools. If this clause which provides for 
separate agricultural schools and experiment stations were elimi¬ 
nated, the bill would meet with our approval.” 

Note. —The views of Principal Stewart have been met by the elimi¬ 
nation of that part of the bill which provides for separate experiment 
stations, but the provisions for district agricultural schools of second¬ 
ary grade is regarded as so all-important to the cause of agricultural 
education that it has been continued in the bill, notwithstanding the 
protest of Principal Stewart. 

VERMONT. 

Hon. John A. Mead, governor of Vermont, says: 

“I have felt keenly for many years that in Vermont at least 
there was a great demand for increased facilities along agricul¬ 
tural and educational lines, and the conditions of said bnl will 
afford the desired relief and where it is most needed. 

“My contention has been that the prosperity of our Nation 
more largely depends upon intelligent development of industrial 
agricultural life than to any other cause. Nature has been prodi¬ 
gal in her gifts to our State and Nation, and shall we exercise that 
industry and knowledge which will permit us to reap the bounty 
which has been placed at our door ? 

“You are worldng along the right lines, and may your success 
equal your fondest anticipations.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 61 

Mason S. Stone, State superintendent of education, Montpelier, 
says: 

“As a financial measure it will be a wealth producer, as it will 
produce wealth producers. 

“As an economic measure, it will eliminate waste through mis¬ 
fit service and greatly increase the efficiency of each successive 
generation. 

“As a just measure, it will afford equality of opportunity to a 
million of boys by enabling each to discover the thing he can do 
best, and by training him to do that thing the best he can. 

“As an educational measure, it will neutralize the traditional 
and bookish education of the present and will train pupils to 
think, to do, to be. 

“As a civic measure, it will greatly enhance the Nation’s gen¬ 
eral intelligence, which is the guaranty of the Nation’s peace, 
permanence, and prosperity. 

“As a moral measure, it will produce individual industry and 
contentment, community cooperation and harmony, and national 
integrity and righteousness. 

“It is the .most important bill for the development of the agri¬ 
cultural resources of the country that has ever been introduced 
since the Morrill bill.” 

Martin G. Benedict, principal St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johns- 
bury,says: 

“The Page bill, a bill to cooperate with the States in encour¬ 
aging instruction in agriculture, the trades, industries, home 
economics, etc., has received my careful attention. I fully and 
enthusiastically indorse its provisions and urge our Representa¬ 
tives in Congress to do their utmost to secure its passage.” 

The New England Farmer, Montpelier, says: 

“Senator Page’s bill is one of tremendous and far-reaching 
importance to the people of this country. Its enactment will 
open the door of opportunity for tens of thousands of American 
boys. 

“We need to make our educational system more practical. 
This does not mean that we are to cut out the essential features 
that form the foundation of our educational system, but it does 
mean that we ought to provide a system of study that will help our 
boys and girls to a greater degree to go forth and earn their own 
living. It is no secret that there have been a good many studies 
that have been of little practical benefit to the student and have 
been forgotten almost as soon as the textbooks were closed and 
packed away. 

“Battleships and standing armies are not the only means of 
protection for a nation. Danger from a foreign foe is a remote 
possibility. Danger from ignorance, inefficiency, and poverty 
is an ever-present peril. The foes of our own household are to 
be dreaded more than any possible invasion from overseas. If 
every year we fit several million bo} f s and girls by the study of 


62 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


manual training, scientific agriculture, and domestic science we 
increase the wealth of the Nation by untold millions of dollars, 
because we make possible the earning of larger wages, the win¬ 
ning of greater profits, and the more economic expenditure of 
the earnings of the man who works with his hands. By increas¬ 
ing the possibility of securing more of the comforts of life we 
reduce thereby the army of the discontented, we lessen the num¬ 
ber of misfits in our economic system, and we make our country 
a safer and a better place in which to dwell.” 

C. H. Spooner, president of Norwich University, Northfield, says: 

“I have given the bill a first reading. It does ‘look good’ to 
me. May success attend you.” 

G. L. Green, principal Vermont State School of Agriculture, Ran¬ 
dolph Center, says: 

“I am unable to be present at the conference concerning the 
passage of the Page bill, but I need not tell you that I am vitally 
interested in its passage. 

“This first Vermont State School of Agriculture is located in 
the home county of the late Senator Justin S. Morrill, father of 
agricultural education in the United States. Our school main- 
tar s a two-year course which is intended to fit the farm boy for 
practical and intelligent farming. We are filling a gap between 
the high school and college. For the first time, the farmers of 
the State have a school of secondary grade, established prima¬ 
rily for their benefit. 

“The appropriation which we have for the present year’s 
use is far too small to establish our plant and provide even the 
beginnings of an equipment. Schools of this kind everywhere 
can not obtain State aid adequate to their needs, and any bill 
which Congress may pass which will help the cause along will be 
a great blessing to the Nation. May the Page bill speedily 
become an act.” 

Mr. Edward S. Abbott, principal Montpelier High School, Mont¬ 
pelier, says: 

“I have read with much interest the bill introduced by you 
in the Senate. It seems to me that it contains the elements of 
a mighty service to the Nation, in no wav second to the Mor¬ 
rill law.” 

A. S. Harriman, principal. Middlebury High School, Middlebury, 
says: 

“I have carefully read the copy of bill introduced by you, and 
cordially approve of a bill so wide in its scope and so salutary 
in its provisions for the welfare of industrial training throughout 
our country.” 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 63 

The following resolutions were adopted by the Vermont State 
Grange at its annual session December 12, 191*1. 

“Whereas a safe, sure, and sound development of the country 
industrially, educationally, and morally needs impulse and en¬ 
couragement, and 

“Whereas the agricultural conditions of the country are rap¬ 
idly approaching a state demanding a greater knowledge and 
an intensive application of the science of agriculture on account 
of the occupation of nearly all available land and the constant 
increase in population: Therefore 

11 Be it resolved by the State Grange of Vermont, in its fortieth 
annual meeting, that we heartily indorse the vocational measure 
before Congress, with such modifications or amendments as will 
adjust it to various vocations, and urge its passage.” 

Montpelier Morning Journal, Montpelier, says: 

“If the price of one battleship put into Senator Page’s states¬ 
manlike policy would help to educate more than 5,000,000 boys 
for lives of greater usefulness and independence than they could 
obtain otherwise, or train an equal number of girls to make 
healthier and happier homes, is any person prepared to say that 
the money would not be invested more economically than in 
the construction of a ship of war?” 

VIRGINIA. 

H. F. Button, director Manassas Agricultural High School, Ma¬ 
nassas, says: 

“I wish you all speed with the Page vocational school bill. 
We have conducted an agricultural school here four years with 
such success that 200 farmers testify to its value. We can not 
continue to grow without more money. The State can not 
support us; Congress can and should.” 

J. D. Eggleston, jr., superintendent of public instruction of Vir¬ 
ginia, says: 

“This measure has been discussed by leading farmers and 
educators throughout the State of Virginia, and I am in position 
to know that the sentiment for it is very strong. My oppor¬ 
tunities for observation have been unusually good, and I am safe 
in saying that were this measure put to a vote of our people it 
would be favored by an overwhelming majority.” 

President Alderman, of the University of Virginia, says: 

“You may give the name democracy to anything—a mode of 
living, a manner of speaking, a group of men, a dollar dinner— 
but the thing itself is plainly a spirit, a faith, a religion, whose 
chiefest commandment is: 'You can trust men if you will train 
them.’ ” 


64 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


WASHINGTON. 

O. L. Waller, vice president of the State College of Washington, 
Pullman, says: 

“We are very much in hopes that before Congress adjourns 
some good bill providing for actual demonstration to the farmers 
and sons of farmers will be enacted into law. We have at this 
institution calls for men to do this kind of work that are far 
beyond the means we have to take care of such calls. We have 
not appropriation enough at present to either employ the men or 
provide the equipment for such work to meet such demands. I 
shall prepare to write you at a later date concerning Senate bill 
3, and shall seek an opportunity to look it over more carefully. 
But vou may be very sure that we are greatly interested in some 
legislation looking to actual services along the line of better 
farming conditions.” 

Henry. B. Dewey, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Olympia, says: 

“I have very carefully examined Senate bill 3 and wish to give 
it my unqualified indorsement in every particular. I hope that 
the bill will pass substantially as printed without material 
amendment. It means more, in my judgment, for the youth 
of this country than any other bill now pending in Congress. 
It is the first definite step toward a redirect education.” 

J. D. Dean, editor the Ranch, Kent, says: 

* 

“There is just one weak feature apparent to me in your bill 
and that is we will have schools established with incompetent 
instructors. I think the realization of the American people of 
the needs such as you provide for is growing faster than teachers 
can be provided. Right in our own State I know of several 
high schools that would be willing to employ a competent agri¬ 
culturist if one could be had, but it is mighty hard to fold 
capable teachers, and as for the necessary instruction for breed¬ 
ing and caring for live stock/ teachers are practically unknown. 

“By your bill I fear we will establish schools faster than 
proper teachers can be supplied. However, }mu may count on 
me to assist in the passing of this law, as I believe it is the best 
measure affecting the whole Nation ever enacted. 

Mr. C. A. Tonneson, editor Northwest Horticulturist, Tacoma, says: 

“Your kind favor of recent date and copy of your bill was duly 
received in time for comment in our August issue. The measure 
you propose is along the lines we have been agitating for several 
years past, and therefore will be glad to cooperate with you in 
an endeavor to get final action on this bill. 

“ The Horticulturist believes a measure of this kind enacted 
would help solve some of the perplexing problems of the day. 
Theory and speculation have been rampant in this country. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


65 


Early training industrially will continue to make us strong in 
all the noble qualities for which the American Nation became 
noted a generation ago.” 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

Thomas E. Hodges, president West Virginia University, Morgan¬ 
town, says: 

“Yours of December 4, addressed to the State Agricultural 
College, Charleston, has come to me. 

“1 most heartily approve the general purposes of Senate bill 
3, a copy of whicli accompanied your letter. 

“The Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations, at its recent meeting at Columbus, Ohio, gave their 
indorsement to the general proposition for Federal aid for instruc¬ 
tion in agriculture and mechanical arts and domestic science 
in secondary schools and for Federal aid to the State colleges 
of agriculture for extension. 

“I was not present at this meeting, but this instruction was 
presented by Dean E. D. Sanderson, of our college of agriculture. 
He reports that he is in thorough harmony with the resolutions 
adopted at the meeting, and in behalf of West Virginia Uni¬ 
versity I am glad to give our most hearty concurrence.” 

M. P. Shawley, State superintendent of public instruction, Charles¬ 
ton, says: 

“I have studied quite carefully Senate bill 3 and find myself 
unable to improve upon its contents. If you wish to add my 
opinion to the long list which you have published, you may use 
the following: 

“West Virginia is just now entering upon a determined cam¬ 
paign for bringing it into its own industrially, and especially agri¬ 
culturally. We find the financial burden of such a project is 
somewhat embarrassing, and that Senate bill 3 will extend to us 
the strong hand of the Government. I most heartily indorse 
the bill and believe that its passage will prove to be a master¬ 
stroke of legislation. 

“Our State supervisor of high schools, Prof. L. L. Friend, is 
much interested m this measure, and is writing you his opinion, 
which you are at liberty to use if you so desire. 

“I am willing to give such attention to bringing proper 
influence to bear from this State, and 3hall be glad to have your 
suggestions as to the most effective means to use. I shall take 
the matter up with the West Virginia Representatives in 
Congress.” 

Mr. Thomas C. Miller, principal Shepherd College State Normal 
School, Shepherdstown, says: 

11 1 beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 5th, to¬ 
gether with a copy of Senate bill 3, which you have introduced 


66 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


in that body. I give it my most hearty approval. As a 
member of the national agricultural executive committee, I shall 
be glad to do anything I can to further the measure and should 
be glad to come to Washington at any time I can be of any 
assistance.” 

L. L. Friend, supervisor of high schools, Charleston, says: 

“I have been watching with much interest the fortunes in 
Congress of the Page bill, providing for the appropriation by the 
Federal Government of funds to promote the teaching of agri¬ 
culture in high schools and normal schools. The most impor¬ 
tant educational movement now in progress in this country is 
the movement for the betterment of rural education. The Page 
bill, if passed, will prove of incalculable benefit to this move¬ 
ment.” 

The Dispatch News, Parkersburg, in speaking of Senate bill 3, says: 

“This bill would mean much to West Virginia where the appro¬ 
priation for school purposes has not been large and where from 
$30,000 to $50,000 a year would prove of wonderful help. The 
West Virginia Representatives in Congress will be urged to 
give the measure their hearty support.” 

WISCONSIN. 

Duncan McGregor, private secretary of Gov. McGovern, of Wis¬ 
consin, says: 

“I am directed by Gov. McGovern to express to you his un¬ 
qualified approval of the purpose of bill 3, Sixty-second Congress, 
first session, introduced by yourself on April 6, 1911.” 

Charles McKenny, president State Normal School, Milwaukee, says: 

“I have your letter of December 7 inviting me to a conference 
December 14, 15, 16, at Washington, D. C., to consider the Page 
bill (S. 3). I regret that previous engagements prevent my being 
present at the conference. I want to say that I am in sympathy 
with the general provisions of the Page bill.” 

Mr. A. A. Johnson, superintendent Milwaukee County School of 
Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Wauwatosa, says: 

“I am very much interested in the bill you have introduced 
contemplating Federal aid for secondary agricultural education 
in the various States. Will you kindly send me a copy of the 
bill? I hope it will pass.” 

The editor of the Butter, Cheese, and Egg Journal, Milwaukee, says: 

“We fully appreciate the importance of greater educational 
interest along agricultural and home economic lines, and we shall 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


67 


endeavor to aid the cause to the best of our ability. We assure 
you of our hearty support.” 

John F. Sims, State Normal School, says: 

“This measure, in my opinion, is a most desirable one for the 
whole country, as the questions involved are the most important 
in present-day needs. The bill, if made law, will stimulate the 
scientific stucly of agriculture, make the farm more attractive 
and more profitable, and encourage a wholesome move back to 
the country.” 

Henry E. Miles, chairman of the committee on industrial education 
of the National Association of Manufacturers, says: 

“The present common-school system is cultural; practical 
matters are no part of its aim, nor can they be made a part. 
Less than one-half of our children go beyond the sixth grade; 
only 1 in 3 completes the grammar school course; only 1 in 5 
enters the high school; only 1 in 30 graduates from the high 
school. Taken as a whole, it is comparable to a transoceanic 
liner, half of whose passengers drop out midway and only one- 
thirtieth of whom reach the port of destination. Half of the 
children leave school at the age of 14. The Wisconsin Bureau 
of Labor, in its report for 1910, declares that only 12 per cent of 
the children employed under 16 years of age are in positions 
where they can learn a trade. In Germany every boy, even to the 
sons of the Emperor, must learn a trade. The nations most pro¬ 
gressive in industrial education are probably Germany, Austria, 
Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Sweden. 

“Germany apparently prefers that the great body of her 
children shall enter the industries at the age of 14. The point is 
that Germany goes into the industry with the child; the hand 
of the child is kept within the hand of the State. The school 
to which he goes is called the continuation school, for in this 
school his education is continued. In the continuation school 
only the science and art of the trade is taught. The child there 
learns the relations of his particular factory task to the whole of 
his industry. He is taught scientifically the higher reaches of 
his industry, and up to the limit of his ability is made an ac¬ 
complished and scientific factor in his industry. 

“Love of work comes of efficiency in work. We like to do 
what we can do well. 

“In the schools of Germany they take pride in the claim that 
their schools teach not only trades, but they teach duty, re¬ 
sponsibility, discipline, work, order, and method. 

“In Germany every trade is taught. In Munich, for instance, 
at very little expense and with marvelous efficiency, 47 trades 
are taught, including printing, lithographing, photography, 
stucco and ornamental sculpture, tinsmith, wigmaker,. baker, 
hotel keeper (including hotel carving), wood carver, jeweler, 
merchant (including buying and selling), confectioner, pastry 
cook, butcher, tailor, clerk and office assistant, druggist, glazier, 


68 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


coachman, saddler, trunk maker, cooper, upholsterer, potter, 
stovemaker, wheelwright, and watchmaker. 

* ‘Germany in the last 40 years has come from the position of 
an extremely poor country to an exceedingly rich one. She now 
annually invests abroad $1,000,000,000 of her surplus capital 
after providing for the constant and great extension of her 
domestic interests. Last year she brought in from beyond her 
borders 1,000,000 operatives to assist in her factories her own 
happy, efficient army of industrial workers.” 

A. A. Johnson, principal La Crosse School of Agriculture and Domes¬ 
tic Economy at Onalaska, says: 

“I feel that your bill, as I understand it, will be a great aid to 
the development of the agricultural resources throughout the 
United States.” 

Prof. Ely, of Wisconsin, declares: 

“Industrial education, not for the few but for all people, for 
every boy and girl,born in the United States, without one excep¬ 
tion, is the chief economic demand of our times. 

“Comparatively little is attained by picking a few here and 
there and elevating them above the masses by technical schools. 
We want to extend the benefit of industrial schools to all alike.” 

H. L. Russell, dean of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, says: 

“I have yours of the 4th instant and also a copy of the Senate 
bill 3. I am writing you to acknowledge receipt of same, which 
came in my absence, and would say that I expect to be in Wash¬ 
ington with the executive committee of the Association of Ameri¬ 
can Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations on Friday of’ 
this week, at which time matters relating to these bills will be 
taken up. 

“There is no question of the need of vocational educational 
legislation, and I am heartily in favor of the proposition being 
pushed when it is evident that it is the right time to do it.” 

Note. —It is only fair to say that Dean Russell is opposed to some 
of the features of Senate bill 3 and so expressed himself at the meeting 
referred to in his letter, from which the above quotation is made. 

T. S. Southgate, Milwaukee, says: 

“Hope commercial congress will aid every possible way intro¬ 
duction and passage of Page vocational bill.” 


[S. 3, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] 

A BILL To cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the 
trades and industries, and home economics in secondary schools; in maintaining 
instruction in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining 
extension departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; and to 
appropriate money and regulate its expenditure. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be, 
and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, to be paid as hereinafter provided to the 
respective States a- nd - T err it or i cs and the District of Columbia, and 
to the departments named herein, for instruction in agriculture, 
the trades, and industries, and home economics, and for agricultural 
e xperimentation tests and demonstrations the several sums as pro¬ 
vided in the following sections: Provided, That the States a nd d F e rri - 
te«es accepting the provisions of this Act shall receive for the respec¬ 
tive lines of education and research development only such portions 
of the full amount to which each State an d - T e r ritery would be 
entitled, of the respective funds to be used for the purpose of this 
Act, as in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior it has made 
ample preparation to utilize to advantage, and such funds as would 
otherwise be allotted to the respective States, but as are not by 
him authorized to be used, shall remain in the Treasury: And pro¬ 
vided, That the terms secondary schools, or schools of secondary grade , 
or high schools, as used in this Act shall mean schools offering courses 
in advance of the elementary schools and lower in grade than collegiate 
courses in the respective States. 

For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and industries, 
home economics, and agriculture in public schools of secondary grade 
the sum of five million dollars, beginning with the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fi fteen sixteen, and annually 
thereafter, to be allotted to the States, T erriterios ^- and the District of 
Columbia in proportion to the school population between the ages of 
Jive and twenty, inclusive, as shall be determined by the next preceding 
Federal census of - n i n e t een- hun dred-and-ten. 

For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home 
economics in State district agricultural schools of secondary grade, 
as h e r ei n provided in section two of this Act, the sum of four million 
dollars, for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and 
fifteen sixteen, and annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States 
and - T e r riter i es in proportion to the number of persons engaged in 
agricultural pursuits as shall be shown by the next preceding Federal 
census ef-n inot e on - hun dred-and-ten: Provided, That for each State 
and-Te r ritory with less than one hundred thousand people engaged 
in agriculture there is hereby appropriated for these State district 
secondary agricultural h i gh schools the additional sum of five thousand 
dollars annually. 

For the maintenance of branch agrieuiturai ■ experimen t field test 
and breeding stations, to be designated in this Act as branch stations, to 

69 




70 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


be located at the agricultural high schools provided for in this Act, 
and to be administered as parts of the respective State experiment 
stations now established in the respective States an d -Te- r ri t e ri es, in 
accordance with the Act of Congress approved March second, eighteen 
hundred and eighty-seven, the sum of one million dollars for the fiscal 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fi f te en sixteen , and 
annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States an d Terri tor i es in 
proportion to the number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits 
as shall be shown by the next 'preceding Federal census of -- nln etee a 
hn n dre d -and-ten: Provided, That in each State an d - T e r ritory with 
less than one hundred thousand people engaged in agriculture there is 
hereby appropriated for these branch ex p eriment stations the addi¬ 
tional sum of two thousand five hundred dollars annually: Provided 
further, That no State or-Territe r y- shall be entitled to its allotment 
for branch expe r im e nt station work until its legislature shall, by law, 
have provided for the annual maintenance of such branch stations a 
sum at least equal to that allotted annually for this purpose to the 
State er-Territery under this Act; and the sum paid to each State er 
T e rri t or y for branch exper iment stations shall be applied only to 
paying the necessary expenses of conducting, by such branch experi¬ 
ment stations, ex p e r iments field tests, animal and plant breeding, and 
other scientific worn bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the 
United States, having due regard for the varying conditions and 
needs of the respective States and-Territories. 

For the maintenance in each State college of agriculture and the 
mechanic arts established under the provisions of an Act of Congress 
approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, of an exten¬ 
sion department devoted to giving instruction and demonstration in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, home economics, and rural 
affairs to persons not resident at these colleges, nor at the secondary 
and normal schools provided for in this Act, the sum of five hundred 
thousand dollars for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and thirteen, and annually thereafter: Provided, That 
annually ten thousand dollars of this sum shall be allotted to each of 
the forty-eight States and-Territerios and twenty thousand dollars to 
the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department of Agriculture: 
And provided, That the additional sum of two three hundred thousand 
dollars shall be, and hereby is, appropriated for the year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fourteen; the additional sum of few 
six hundred thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nine¬ 
teen hundred and fifteen; the additional sum of sis nine hundred 
thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth nineteen hundred 
and sixteen; the additional sum of eight one million two hundred 
thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and seventeen; the additional sum of one million five hundred thousand 
dollars for the year ending June thirtieth nineteen hundred and 
eighteen; the additional sum of one million eight hundred thousand 
dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen; 
the additional sum of two million one hundred thousand dollars for the 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty; and the addi¬ 
tional sum of two million four hundred thousand dollars for the year 
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and annually 
thereafter; these additional sums to be allotted annually to the States 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


71 


in proportion to their population engaged in agricul¬ 
ture as shall be determined by the next preceding Federal census el 
nineteen-hu nd r ed and ten : Provided, That no State shall be entitled 
to any part or all of its allotment of these additional sums until its 
legislature shall by law provide for the establishment of an agricul¬ 
tural extension department or division in its college of agriculture and 
mechanic arts, ana shall have provided as an appropriation for that 
work an amount at least equal to the additional amount annually 
allotted to the State for that purpose under this 



a i ture: And provided, That the Dep artm e nt Secretary 
of Agriculture shall submit to Congress annually a report on exten¬ 
sion work as provided for in this Act. 

For the preparation of persons to serve as teachers of the vocations 
of agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics, the sum of 
four hundred eighty thousand dollars annually, to be used under plans 
approved by the Secretary of the Interior in departments or dimsions 
of education in the State colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts of 
the respective States established under the Act of Congress approved July 
second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the Acts supplementary 
thereto, the sum of ten thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and thirteen, and annually thereafter. 

For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture, the trades and 
industries, and home economics in State and—Territorial normal 
schools, the sum of one million dollars annually, commencing with the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and 
annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States and T e r rit ories and 
the District of Columbia in proportion to the school population 
beween the ages of five and twenty, Inclusive, as shall be determined by 
the next preceding Federal census ef-n in c toe n-hundred-and-ten: Pro¬ 
vided, That in each State and-Territery with less than three hundred 
thousand inhabitants there is hereby appropriated for normal-school 
instruction as herein provided the additional sum of three thousand 
dollars annually. 

The sum of thirty forty thousand dollars annually, to be expended, 
under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in paying neces¬ 
sary expenses of administering this Act; in paying the expenses of 
cooperating with the respective departments and States a-nd-Terri- 
te ri es designated in this Act; in developing the schools and courses 
of study provided for in this Act; in paying the expenses of preparing 
the reports provided for in this Act. 

The sum of twenty fifteen thousand dollars annually, to be ex¬ 
pended, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 
m cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior and the respective 
States an d Territori es, in paying necessary expenses in administering 
this Act with reference to instruction and investigations in agriculture 
and home economics provided for in this Act; and the Secretary of 
Agriculture is hereby authorized to give the schools and branch 
experiment stations designated in this Act such advice and assistance 
as will best aid them in carrying out the provisions of this Act in its 
relations to instrnetien-anJ-researeh-in agriculture, home economics, 
and rural affairs, and'to issue reports thereon. 




72 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The sum of twenty fifteen thousand dollars annually, to be ex¬ 
pended under the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, acting in 
cooperation with the Secret ary of the Interior, and the respective 
States and - Tcrritorios , in paying the necessary expenses of the ad¬ 
ministration of this Act with reference to in struetion -and investigati o n 
in the trades and industries provided for in this Act; and the Secretary 
of Commerce and Labor is hereby authorized to cooperate with 
the Secretary of the Interior in giving to the schools designated in this 
Act such advice and assistance as will best aid them in carrying out 
the provisions of this Act in its relations to instr uction and - r e s ea^eh 
in the trades and industries and t o - is sue in preparing reports thereon. 

Sec. 2. That each State an d -- Terri tory, in order to secure the 
benefits of this Act, shall accept its provisions and shall divide the 
State and - Tcrritory into districts, providing in each district for one 
secondary agricultural school and in connection therewith , a branch 
experiment station, the total number of such districts in a given 

State or.Territory to be not less than one for each fifteen counties 

nor more than one for each five counties and fraction of five coun 
ties; and shall enact laws providing for the allotment of the respec 
tive funds herein appropriated to the respective schools to which it 
may choose to allot funds under the provisions of this Act, and 
shall provide for the proper administration of the respective funds 
herein appropriated: Provided , That any State may accept any one or 
more of the respective funds herein appropriated to it, and may defer 
the acceptance of any one or more of such funds, and shall be required 
to meet only those conditions imposed in relation to those funds which 
it has accepted. 


ef money for - the-encouragement - of ~ in s ferue fe i e n ~ in - th e- af e r es aid voe a 



1-hiD— n/>f „ 

T7TTTo TCu. 

Sec 4t 3. That in case the legislature of any State or - Territory has 
not been in session to comply with the terms of this Act the gov¬ 
ernor. acting for the State or-Terr it -o ry . may accept the provisions 
of this Act in its relation to the preparation of teachers of the voca¬ 
tional subjects herein provided for in State colleges of agriculture and 
the mechanic arts, and in State normal schools, and in relation to the 
determinate appropriation of ten thousand dollars for each State or 
T e rr ito r y for college extension work pending the convening of the 
legislature. 

Sec. o Jj. That the funds appropriated in this Act for instruction in 
agrieuiturai secondary agricultural schools in the respective districts 
provided for in this Act shall be used only for distinctive studies in 
agriculture and home economics; the funds appropriated for instruc¬ 
tion in public secondary schools shall be used only for distinctive 
instruction in the trades and industries, home economics, and agri¬ 
culture, in separate schools organized for that purpose, or in separate 
units or courses organized as departments or divisions under a properly 
qualified head in regular secondary schools; the funds appropriated for 
the preparation of teachers by State colleges of agriculture and the mechanic 







VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


73 


arts shall be used by departments or divisions of education in these colleges 
in the preparation of teachers to instruct in agriculture, the trades and 
industries, and home economics; the funds appropriated for instruction 
in State an d - Tcrritoria l normal schools shall be used only for dis¬ 
tinctive studies in agriculture, home economics, and the trades and 
industries in separate units and courses organized as departments or 
divisions under a properly qualified head; the funds appropriated for 
college-extension departments or divisions shall be used only for 
instruction and demonstrations in agriculture, home economics, and 
rural affairs, and the funds appropriated for branch stations shall be used 
only under plans approved by the directors of the State experiment stations 
of the respective States: Provided, That shorter courses shall be in¬ 
cluded in the respective secondary schools for persons permanently 
engaged in or experienced in agricultural, industiial, or home-making 
vocations; and continuation courses shall be included for persons not 
necessarily graduated from elementary schools who need opportuni¬ 
ties offered by short or night vocational courses in the trades and 
industries or in heme making or in agriculture, and instruction in these 
subjects may be given in the upper grades of the elementary schools. 

Sec. % 5. That all States, Terr it ories, and the District of Columbia 
accepting these funds shall provide other funds with which to pay the 
cost of providing the necessary lands and buildings, and to pay the 
cost of all instruction in secondary, schools, normal schools, and State 
colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts in such other and general 
studies as shall complete well-rounded courses as provided in this Act, 
the mam purposes of which are to give vocational as well as general 
preparation for agriculture, the trades and industries, and home mak- 
ing, or for the preparation of teachers in these subjects, suited to the 
needs of the respective sections and communities of the United States; 
and from and after the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and sixteen, there shall in no case be allotted, under the terms of this Act, 
to any school, college, course of study, or for any other purpose contem¬ 
plated by this Act, more money than is supplied therefor by the State. 

Sec. 7 6 . That all printed matter issued from agricultural colleges 
for the furtherance of extension work as provided for in this Act shall 
be transmitted in the mails of the United States and dependencies 
free of charge for postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster 
General may from time to time prescribe. 

Sec. 8t 7. That the sums hereby appropriated to the respective 
States and Terri to r ies and the District of Columbia for the mainte¬ 
nance of instruction in agriculture, trades and industries, and home 
economics, for branch agricultural experimen t stations, for the prepa¬ 
ration of teachers, and for college extension departments shall be 
annually paid, one-half on the first day of July of each year and one- 
half on the first day of January of each year, by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, upon the requisition of the Secretary of the Interior, out of 
the Treasury of the United States to the treasurer or other officer 
duly appointed by the governing boards or departments of the schools, 
colleges, and experimen t branch stations designated by State law to 
receive the same: Provided, That in any State there shall be no more 
than one State governing board or department thus designated for 
the college extension - w ork colleges, agricultural secondary schools, 
and branch experimen t stations, not more than one State board or 
department for State normal schools, and not more than one State 
"board or department for public secondary schools. 





74 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Sec. 9 8. That if any portion of the money allotted under this Act 
shall by any action or contingency be diminished or lost or misapplied 
it shall be replaced by said State, Territory, or the District of Colum¬ 
bia, and until so replaced no subsequent appropriation shall be allotted 
or paid to such State, Territory, or the District of Columbia: Pro¬ 
vided , That no portion of said money shall be applied, directly or 
indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, 
or rental of any building or buildings, nor to the purchase or rental 
of lands. 

Sec. 40 9. That it shall be the duty of each institution receiving 
funds under this Act annually, on or before the first day of February, 
to make to the governor of the State or Territory or to the Commission¬ 
ers of the District of Columbia, in which it is located, a full and detailed 
report of its operations, including a statement of all receipts and ex¬ 
penditures from all sources for these purposes, a copy of which shall 
be sent to the Secretary of the Interior, a copy to the Secretary of 
Agriculture, and a copy to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and 
on or before the first day of September in each year to make to the 
Secretary of the Interior, on blanks provided by him for that purpose, 
a detailed statement of receipts and expenditures of money under 
this Act during the preceding fiscal year. 

Sec. 44 10. That the Secretary of the Interior, with the assistance 
of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor, is hereby charged with the proper administration of this law. 
That he shall annually ascertain whether the institutions receiving 
the benefits of this Act are using the funds granted them in accord¬ 
ance with the terms of this Act; that on or before the first day of 
July in each year, after this Act becomes operative, he shall certify 
to the Secretary of the Treasury as to each State and Territory 
and the District of Columbia whether it has complied with the 
provisions of this Act and is entitled to receive its share of the allot¬ 
ments herein provided for colleges, schools, and experiment branch 
stations under this Act, and the amounts which each institution is 
entitled to receive for the respective purposes named in this Act. 
If the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold a certificate from any 
State, - Terr i tory^ or the District of Columbia, for the whole or any 
part of its allotment, the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported 
to the President, and the amount involved shall be kept separately 
in the Treasury as a special fund until the close of the next Congress 
in order that the State, Territorjq or the District or Columbia may, if 
it shall so desire, appeal to Congress from the determination of the 
Secretary of the Interior. If the next Congress shall not direct such 
sum to be paid it shall be covered into the Treasury. He shall also 
make an annual report to Congress on the receipts and expenditures, 
and on the work of the schools and colleges to which allotments are 
made under this Act, and also whether the appropriation of any 
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia has been withheld, and 
if so, the reasons therefor, and he shall make one or more reports to 
Congress not later than June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and #eur- 
teen fifteen, concerning the organization of vocational education as 
provided for in this Act. 

Sec. 4 £11. That this Act shall take effect immediately on its 
passage. 







VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


75 


Amend title so as to read: 

“A bill to cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics in sec¬ 
ondary schools; in preparing teachers for these vocational courses 
in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; in maintaining 
instruction in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in 
maintaining extension departments in State colleges of agriculture 
and the mechanic arts; and to appropriate money and regulate its 
expenditure/’ 


o 




Calendar No. 348. 

62 d Congress, ) SENATE. j Report 

2d /Session . | No. 405. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


February 26, 1912.—Ordered to be printed. 

£ -i 

Mr. Page, from the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, sub- 
mitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany S. 3.] 

The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, having had under 
consideration the bill (S. 3) to cooperate with the States in encourag¬ 
ing instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home 
economics in secondary schools; in maintaining instruction in these 
vocational subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining extension 
departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; and 
to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure, reports the same 
favorably with amendments, and as amended recommend that the bill 
do pass. 

The bill as amended by this committee may be found at page 69 of 
this report. 

The report of the subcommittee to whom the bill was referred, con¬ 
taining as it does the results of a somewhat extended correspondence 
with superintendents of public instruction and others directly inter¬ 
ested in educational work along agricultural and industrial lines, is 
appended hereto and made a part of this report. 

The report of the subcommittee is as follows: 

To the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry: 

On the 14th day of August, 1911, your committee, having under 
consideration Senate bill 3, viz, “A bill to cooperate with the States 
in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, 
and home economics in secondary schools; in maintaining instruc- 








2 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


tion in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in main¬ 
taining extension departments in State colleges of agriculture and 
mechanic arts; and to appropriate money and regulate its expendi¬ 
ture,” 

“ Resolved , That Senator Page, as a subcommittee of one, be 
instructed to correspond with leading educators and others 
interested in the purposes of the proposed measure, and to 
report to the full committee the result of his investigation, and 
to submit a bill amended to conform to the suggestions he 
may receive from such correspondence or any he might have 
to make. 

“And that the committee approves the general purposes of 
the bill ” 

In conformity with these resolutions, letters were written to the 
State superintendents of public instruction in every State, inviting a 
careful examination and criticism of the bill and requesting such sug¬ 
gestions as to amendments as would, in their judgment, perfect the 
bill and make it articulate with the school laws and school conditions 
of the several States. 

Letters were also written to a large number of prominent educators 
in every section of the Union, inclosing a copy of the bill and asking 
their advice as to amendments which would perfect or improve the 
measure. 

The response to these letters was quite general. In a very large 
majority of the replies the indorsements of the measure were unquali¬ 
fied and in many cases enthusiastic. Wherever local conditions 
seemed to demand amendments they were suggested, and only from a 
very few States were replies received which indicated disapproval of 
the general purposes of the bill. 

Letters asking for suggestions of amendments were addressed not 
only to State superintendents of public instruction, but to the gov¬ 
ernors of the several States, to the heads of State agricultural colleges, 
and to men of known prominence in educational affairs in various 
walks of life, including editors of newspapers devoted to the trades 
and industries. 

Replies were received from every State in the Union, except 
Wyoming. 

With less than a half dozen exceptions, the replies received from 
State superintendents of public instruction were favorable—most of 



so. A few were qualifiedly favorable, but sug- 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


3 


gested changes in the administrative features or in some of the less 
important details. Only two were unqualifiedly opposed to the bill. 
A symposium giving brief extracts from letters received is here¬ 


with submitted and made a part of this report. Some of the opinions 
expressed at public hearings had before the Committee on Agriculture 


and Forestry in 1910 are also included. 

Senators are earnestly urged to read the views of these educators 
as given in the symposium. Inasmuch as this matter was obtained 
pursuant to the committee’s instructions, it was deemed proper to 
make it a part of its report. This symposium is replete with facts 
vital to a proper consideration of this great educational and industrial 
problem, and no one can read it without reaching the conclusion that 
public sentiment is thoroughly aroused to the necessity of the passage 
of this or similar legislation and that the General Government must 
proceed to blaze the trail in this matter or our progress along these 
all-important educational lines will be spasmodic, disjointed, inef¬ 
fective, and extravagant. 

Numerous organizations and associations throughout the country, 
having for their object the betterment of educational conditions, have 
placed their seal of approval upon this measure by adopting resolu¬ 
tions giving the bill practically unqualified indorsement. That the 
committee may be advised of the state of public sentiment as shown 
by these resolutions, it has been thought best to incorporate them in 
this report. 

That this proposed legislation transcends all political lines is shown 
by the following quotations from President Taft, ex-President Roose¬ 
velt, Gov. Harmon, and the platform of the Democratic Party. 

President Taft, in an address delivered by him at Kansas City Sep¬ 
tember 25 last, says: 

“The welfare of the people is so dependent on improved agri¬ 
cultural conditions that it seems wise to use the welfare clause 
of the Constitution to authorize the expenditure of money for 
improvement in agricultural education, and leave to the States 
and to private enterprise general and other vocational education.” 

Ex-President Roosevelt says: 

“The passage of this bill would merely be putting into effect 
that cardinal American doctrine of furnishing a reasonable 
equality of opportunity of education and chance of develop- 


4 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


ment to all our children, wherever they live and whatever may 
be their station in life. Such a Federal cooperation in technical 
education will help in many ways. It will mean much for 
country life, for the life of the family farm, for the life of those 
city workers who seek landed homes in the country near the 
city in which they work. It will mean much along the lines of 
the great policy of the conservation of the natural resources of 
our land. Finally, it will mean much to the nation of the future, 
because it will represent the effort to give exact justice and an 
equal opportunity for development to each of the boys and 
girls who in the future are to make up the Nation. 

“Industrial training, training which will fit a girl to do work 
in the home, which will fit a boy to work in the shop if in a 
city, to work on a farm if in the country, is the most important 
of all training aside from that which develops character, and it 
is a grave reproach to us as a nation that we have permitted 
our training to lead the children away from the farm and shop 
instead of toward them. 

“The school system should be aimed primarily to fit the 
scholar for actual life rather than for a university. 

“I thoroughly believe that our people approve of the higher 
education, but I also believe that they are growing more and 
more to demand a reform in secondary schools which should 
fit the ordinary scholar for the actual work in life. 

“I believe that the National Government should take an 
active part in securing better educational methods, in accord¬ 
ance with some such system as that outlined in the bill. 

“It is not my place to speak of the details of such a bill, but 
in a general way I feel that the Nation should, by making appro¬ 
priations, put a premium upon industrial and especially agricul¬ 
tural training in the State schools, the States themselves being 
required in these schools to contribute what is necessary for the 
ordinary training. 

******* 

* 

“All this simply means that the Nation ought to cooperate 
with the State to help the people help themselves through better 
educational facilities, the schools being left wholly and directly 
under the control of the people through their local authorities, 
but suggestions and general oversight, as well as improvement, 
being supplied by the experts empk^ed b}^ the Nation.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


5 


Gov. Harmon, in an article on “Back to the Land,” says: 

“The average yield of all farm products in this great agricul¬ 
tural country is not creditable. She makes a poor showing in 
comparison with other nations, poorer in that than in any other 
industry. 

“The figures in the reports taken from the official records of 
Germany, England, France, and the Netherlands show that they 
raise from two to two and a half and three times more of all sorts 
of products to the acre than we do, and they have no better soil 
and no better climate. God has not smiled more brightly on# 
any other land than ours. 

“We have the soil, we have the rainfall, we have the climate. 
You can trust nature to produce if you give nature the chance. 
And yet, while all other lines of our industries have received a 
great impetus from intelligent thought, agriculture seems to have 
been largely passed by. Too widely the idea prevails that all a 
man has to do is to scratch the ground, throw some seed into it 
plow once in a while, and trust the Lord to do the rest. 

“The most productive thing is practical intelligence properly 
applied, and this must be done in agriculture as well as any¬ 
thing else. 

“What is the reason that the little country of France, which 
is not as big as one State in the American Union, could pay 
that enormous war indemnity to Germany, which everybody 
thought would break her up, and in 20 or 25 years after be 
the great creditor nation that she is to-day ? 

“They have 45,000 agricultural schools in France, every 
one of them with a little plat around it, where they not merely 
teach boys out of books but send them to the field to learn 
what must be done to make things grow under the smile of 
God; and the result is that France is the greatest producer 
and the greatest creditor nation in the world to-day, while we 
are just beginning to wake up in this country.” 

The Democratic national convention, held at Denver in 1908, 
incorporated into its platform the following plank: 

“The Democratic Party favors the extension of agricultural, 
mechanical, and industrial education. We therefore favor the 
establishment of district agricultural experiment stations and 


6 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


secondary agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several 
States.” 

That associations standing for the welfare of the laboring man are 
agreed as to the advisability of this legislation is shown by the 
following utterances of the National Association of Manufacturers 
on the one hand and the American Federation of Labor on the other. 

The National Association of Manufacturers at its sixteenth annual 
meeting, held in New York City May 15, 16, and 17, 1911, resolved: 

“That this association earnestly devote itself, with reasonable 
outlay of funds, to the promotion of industrial education, to the 
end that such education may be made available, as soon as 
possible, to every child who needs it. 

“Resolved, That we favor the establishment in every com¬ 
munity of continuation schools wherein the children of 14 to 18 
years of age, now in the industries, shall be instructed in the 
science and art of their respective industries and in citizenship.” 

The American Federation of Labor, speaking through its president, 
Samuel Gompers, says: 

“Under this proposed law the Federal Government, the States, 
and the local communities would be united in a cooperative 
movement to place within the reach of every boy and girl in 
the country the opportunity of securing both a general and a 
vocational education. The public high schools, which are mainly 
in our cities, would receive $5,000,000 and the 300 to 400 agri¬ 
cultural high schools distributed throughout the farming regions 
$4,000,000. Probably one-third the total sum appropriated 
would be used for the mechanical trades and industries, one- 
third for instruction of girls in home making, and one-third for 
agriculture. The $1,000,000 proposed in this bill for State nor¬ 
mal schools is in addition to the $1,000,000 provided by the 
Nelson amendment of 1907 for use by the State colleges in the 
preparation of teachers of industrial subjects, provision thus 
being made to teach the teachers. 

“The prosperity of a nation depends upon its industrial and 
commercial success, and in respect to these, success depends upon 
the training and intelligence of its citizens. It is therefore 
plainly evident that a national educational system determines 
its destiny. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


7 


“The compilation of statistics relating to the period of school 
attendance by the young of the country, the study of these sta¬ 
tistics, and the result of the limited attendance of so large a pro¬ 
portion of the school population which they have disclosed, have 
attracted the attention not only of men engaged in educational 
effort but the people generally. The fact that so large a pro¬ 
portion of the boys in the United States are leaving school at or 
before the completion of an elementary course of instruction, 
that the major portion of them are subsequently to earn a living 
by the work of their hands, that at an early age they seek em¬ 
ployment largely in unskilled industries because they are fitted 
for nothing better and because they are too young to enter 
upon the work of apprentices, even were that possible, and that 
the prospects of emergence from unskilled to skilled industries 
is so small, is attracting attention to the problem and demand¬ 
ing solution.” 

It is probably true that there is no class of our people more earnest 
in their demands for this bill than the farmers. So far as known, 
they are absolutely unanimous in urging its passage. Among the 
recognized mouthpieces of the farmers, speaking as a body, is the 
National Grange, which, at its last meeting, in Columbus, Ohio, 
passed the following resolution: 

11 Resolved, That the National Grange in forty-fifth annual 
session assembled does hereby indorse the Page bill, Senate 
bill 3, to provide for vocational education in secondary schools, 
the training of teachers for these schools, agricultural extension, 
and agricultural demonstration.” 

The International Dry Farming Congress, at its annual gathering 
at Colorado Springs, October 16-20, 1911, unanimously adopted the 
following resolutions: 

“This congress reiterates the conviction voiced by former 
congresses in favor of financial Federal aid for rural education 
and agricultural extension, the same to be expended exclusively 
by the several States in the interests of agriculture, home eco¬ 
nomics, and the mechanic aits, and for preparing teachers 
for the same, and, as far as possible, to make use of the 
organizations now established in the several States. This 
congress urges upon its members that they use all legitimate 


8 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


influence to the end that the coming session of the Congress of 
the United States may witness the enactment into law of a 
comprehensive plan for agricultural and vocational education 
and training in the common and high schools. 

“ Realizing that the results of agricultural education during the 
past two decades have demonstrated the equal importance of the 
education of the farm women along parallel lines with the education 
of the farmer, and also realizing that the carrying forward of agri¬ 
cultural propaganda, in so far as it relates to the establishment of 
happy, contented homes on all farms; and also realizing that 
home economics is greatly in need of experimental data for the 
systematizing of its field, this congress heartily indorses the bill 
now pending before the United States Senate which provides for 
a permanent annual appropriation to each State experiment sta¬ 
tion for the purpose of conducting original or confirmatory ex¬ 
periments dealing with the whole field of home economics, and 
requests our respective Senators and Representatives to urge 
this bill for early passage.” 

The American Education and Cooperative Farmers’ Union, at a 
joint meeting in St. Louis with the American Society of Equity, the 
two jointly representing several million farmers, passed a resolution 
approving the provisions of the vocational educational bill, and ear¬ 
nestly urged the Members of the United States Senate and House of 
Representatives to favor the bill. 

While we recognize the fact that industrial and agricultural 
education is a subject in which federations of labor, associations of 
manufacturers, the National Grange, and other organizations of like 
character are deeply interested, it is probably true that men whose 
lives are devoted to educational work are best qualified to speak 
upon a measure dealing with education. The following are some of 
the more important resolutions adopted by national educational 
associations: 

The National Educational Association at its convention held in 
Boston July 7, 1910, by a unanimous vote of the active members in 
session at that time, resolved— 

“That while the members of this association are of the opinion 
that the old courses of study, which had as their chief object 
the giving of culture to the individual and of transmitting to 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


9 


him the best ideas and ideals of the past, should in no manner 
be weakened, we nevertheless, very sincerely indorse the move¬ 
ment to make the courses of study offered in our schools more 
democratic, that they may meet the conditions of our modern 
commercial and industrial life. However, to meet adequately 
these new demands imposed upon the schools of the country 
additional financial responsibilities, and this association appeals 
to the Nation and to the States for more liberal appropriations 
for educational purposes in order that this additional work in 
agriculture, in the trades and industries, and home economics 
may be effectively undertaken.” 

At a meeting of leading educators gathered at Washington from 
different sections of the country December 14, 15, and 16, 1911—a 
meeting attended by men of national reputation in educational mat¬ 
ters—the following resolution was unanimously adopted: 

“ Resolved , That the conference of friends of vocational educa¬ 
tion assembled in Washington December 14, 1911, select a com¬ 
mittee on ways and means whose duty it shall be to further the 
interests of the Page bill, Senate bill 3, and to work for its success¬ 
ful passage.” 

At the recent International Congress of Farm Women, held at 
Colorado Springs, Colo., the following resolution was adopted: 

11 Resolved, That this congress indorses the vocational educa¬ 
tion bill now pending in the Congress of the United States 
whereby the States and Nation may combine in a comprehensive 
plan of effective vocational training in secondary schools, through 
which the rural elementary school may be benefited.” 

At a recent meeting of the Southern Educational Association held 
at Houston, Tex., the association adopted a series of resolutions 
demanding that— 

“ agricultural education should have its rightful place in the 
instruction of the rural population, and we heartily commend 
the efforts of the many agencies now at work to give training in 
this and allied subjects to the children in the rural districts ”— 
and indorsed unqualifiedly the— 

“bill introduced anew in the United States Senate by Senator 
Page as a measure calculated to promote most effectually and 
practically the secondary industrial training of both races.” 


10 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The National Committee on Agricultural Education, representing 
the departments of public instruction and the normal schools of the 
several States, through its chairman, H. H. Seerley, president of the 
Iowa State College, says: 

“ We take pleasure in tendering you our cooperation and most 
efficient service to keep the matter before the country in the 
fields of education where we have influence. We sincerely hope 
the measure may become law at an early date and that the prog¬ 
ress of practical education may be thereby greatly advanced.” 

H. H. Seerley, president Iowa State Teachers’ College, Cedar Falls, 
Iowa, writes: 

“I take pleasure in informing you that at the recent meeting 
of the American agricultural colleges and experiment stations 
held in Columbus, Ohio, the educators present voted unani¬ 
mously in favor of legislation providing for Federal aid in instruc¬ 
tion in the public and secondary schools in agriculture, home 
economics, and the trades and industries, including manual train¬ 
ing, and for the education and professional training of teachers 
for these schools in the several States, the plan proposed provid¬ 
ing legislation for these schools in these States and leaving 
further details for the action of State legislatures.” 

At a meeting of the department of superintendence of the National 
Educational Association, held at Indianapolis, a resolution was. 
passed that— 

“We favor the encouragement of agricultural education by 
National and State assistance.” 

The National League of Industrial Education, through its presi¬ 
dent, Mr. Herbert Myrick, editor of the Orange Judd weeklies, of 
Springfield, Mass., gives to the measure the following most enthusiastic 
indorsement: 

“The proposed plan of vocational education has been my 
special pride ever since it was suggested. I believe it will do 
more for the welfare of each and every section of the United 
States than any one measure now pending. Each dollar wisely 
expended under this bill will do more for the American people 
than each ten dollars or even each one hundred dollars spent on 
the Army and Navy.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


11 


Perhaps one of the most spirited and interesting hearings devoted 
to educational matters was the one above referred to, held at Wash¬ 
ington, December 14, 15, and 16 last. It was attended not only by 
those who were friendly to the measure, but by several who were 
opposed to some of the administrative and other minor features of 
the bill, among them being Dr. Thompson, president of the Ohio 
State University, and Dean Russell, of the University of Wisconsin. 

The sessions lasted three days, and at the close of the second day’s 
proceedings a committee of seven, including Dr. Thompson and Dean 
Russell, was appointed to take up the bill, section by section, in an 
endeavor to see if the measure could be sp amended and perfected as 
to eliminate its objectionable features. 

The other members of this committee were Hon. Coe I. Crawford, 
United States Senator from South Dakota; G. G. Dawe, managing 
director of the Southern Commercial Congress; Willet M. Hays, As¬ 
sistant Secretary of Agriculture; Dr. P. P. Claxton, our newly ap¬ 
pointed Commissioner of Education; and Dr. J. H. Connell, president 
of the Oklahoma State Agricultural and Mechanical College. This 
committee gave to the bill several hours of faithful consideration. 

It would be a misstatement to say that the bill came forth from 
that committee in a form entirely satisfactory to all of its members, 
but it was so far satisfactory that when it was reported to the full 
meeting on the following day the resolution above quoted, author¬ 
izing the appointment of a committee to cooperate in the work of 
promoting the passage of the Page bill, was adopted without a dis¬ 
senting voice. 

This committee of seven to whom reference was made was unani¬ 
mous in the opinion that so far as possible the bill should articulate 
with the school laws of the several States, and that in every case it 
should be optional with the States to avail themselves of as many 
features of the bill as were found to dovetail with the educational 
laws of the several States, whether it be in one or all of the directions 
indicated by the bill. 

In conformity with this view, the committee was unanimously 
of the opinion that the bill should be amended by inserting the 
following proviso: 

“ And provided further, That any State or Territory may accept 
any one or more of the respective funds hereby appropriated to 


12 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


it, and may defer the acceptance of any one or more of such 
funds, and shall be required to meet only those conditions im¬ 
posed in relation to those funds which it has accepted.” 

It will thus be seen that it is entirely optional on the part of any 
State whether it shall or shall not avail itself of the benefits of this 
act, either wholly or in part. 

Again, on the other hand, the leading thought of the bill has not 
for one moment been lost sight of, to wit: That this measure is to 
stimulate and encourage education along industrial and agricultural 
lines and the line of home economics; and after a State has made 
the proper preparation in the way of providing the required build¬ 
ings and farm lands to enable it to take advantage of the act, it 
must then, in addition, appropriate at least as much for these edu¬ 
cational purposes is is contributed by the Federal Government. 

To meet this view of the bill, the following amendment was pro¬ 
posed and unanimously agreed to, to wit: At the end of section 6 
add, “and from and after the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nine¬ 
teen hundred and sixteen, there shall in no case be allotted, under the 
terms of this act, to any school, college, course of study, or for any 
other purpose contemplated by this act, more money than is supplied 
therefor by the State.” 

While the bill has been made as elastic as possible, to the end that 
its provisions may conform to the educational conditions in the sev¬ 
eral States as perfectly as is practicable, nevertheless the utmost care 
has been taken to see that the funds appropriated by this act shall 
not be diverted to the general educational work of the several States, 
nor be used for the purchase or rental of either land or buildings. 
It is thought that this feature of the bill is satisfactorily safeguarded 
by the following provision: 

“That all the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia 
accepting these funds shall provide other funds with which to pay 
the cost of providing the necessary lands and buildings, and to pay 
the cost of all instruction in secondary schools, normal schools, 
and agricultural and mechanical colleges in such other and general 
studies as shall complete well-rounded courses, as provided in 
this act, the main purposes of which are to give vocational as 
well as general preparation for agriculture, the trades and indus¬ 
tries, and home making, and for the preparation of teachers in 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 13 

these subjects suited to the needs of the respective sections and 
communities of the United States.” 

The bill contemplates night courses of instruction for those boys 
and girls who, after reaching the seventh or eighth grade in the gram¬ 
mar school, and before reaching the age when they enter their appren¬ 
ticeships or take up a life work, are compelled to become breadwinners 
for the family. The language of the provision having this purpose 
in view is as follows: 

“Provided, That shorter courses shall be included in the 
respective secondary schools for persons permanently engaged in 
or experienced in agricultural, industrial, or home-making voca¬ 
tions ; and continuation courses shall be included for persons, not 
necessarily graduated from elementary schools, who need oppor¬ 
tunities offered by short or night vocational courses in the trades 
and industries, or in home making, or in agriculture; and instruc¬ 
tion in these subjects in the upper elementary school grades may 
be included.” 

The discussion which took place at the meeting December 14-16, 
above referred to, brought out the fact that a large majority of the 
States will be unable to immediately avail themselves of the benefits of 
the larger appropriations under this bill, because of the fact that they 
lack properly equipped teachers. It was therefore deemed best to 
amend the bill by making the year ending June 30, 1916, rather than 
that ending June 30, 1915, the first year to which the larger appro¬ 
priations should apply and be made available, and this later date— 
1916—is therefore named in the bill as amended. 

This change will not only give the States ample time to prepare for 
the education of teachers, but it gives them ample opportunity to. 
enact any legislation which may seem to be necessary to make the 
State laws harmonize with the national law; and it hardly need be 
said that if during the next three years it should be found that any 
minor changes not affecting the fundamental principles of the bill 
are desirable the National Congress will be quick to correct any 
defects which are discovered. 

This extension of the time within which the main appropriations of 
the bill are to be made available—from 1915 to 1916—is unquestion¬ 
ably wise under any view of the matter, but particularly so on account 
of the present condition of our national finances. 


14 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


What the bill appropriates: 

First. For the annual expense of administration, commencing with the 

fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, and annually thereafter. $70,000 

Second. For the education of teachers for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

1913, and annually thereafter. 1, 492, 000 

Third. For extension work, so-called, $500,000 for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1913, increasing this sum by $300,000 annually until 1921, 
when it reaches the maximum sum (which is thereafter annually ap¬ 
propriated) of. 2, 900, 000 


Fourth. For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and industries, 
home economics, and agriculture in the public schools of secondary 
grade for the fiscal year ending June 30,1916, and annually thereafter.. 5, 000, 000 

Fifth. For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home eco¬ 
nomics in State district agricultural schools for the fiscal year ending 


June 30, 1916, and annually thereafter. 4, 000, 000 

Sixth. For the maintenance of branch field test and breeding stations to 
be located at the agricultural high schools provided for by this bill for 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, and annually thereafter. 1, 000, 000 


Making the maximum expenditure in 1921 and annually thereafter, 
provided every State shall avail itself of every appropriation 
made by the bill. 14, 462, 000 


This maximum sum involves an annual cost of less than 14 cents 
per capita of our population. 

It is claimed—and there are probably some grounds for the claim— 
that Germany is distancing the United States in the race for com¬ 
mercial supremacy. Men who have studied this problem thoroughly 
are of the opinion that this condition, if it exists, is largely the result 
of the better educational advantages, along industrial lines, which 
that nation provides for her boys. Germany gives to her boys, who 
because of the fact that they must at the age of 14 and after they 
have passed from the grammar grades become breadwinners, what 
is known as continuation courses of study. She examines into the 
mental and physical condition of these boys, their idiosyncrasies 
and characteristics, and furnishes them the advantages of the continu¬ 
ation courses of study suggested by such examinations. 

The American people have for a century been deceiving themselves 
with the idea that they were becoming vastly wealthy, whereas the 
facts are that the wealth was here a hundred years ago in our own 
virgin forests, our farm lands of practically inestimable worth, our 
mines, and our quarries. We have been exploiting that wealth and, 









VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


15 


so far as our farms are concerned, we have been capitalizing our fer¬ 
tilization, until to-day we have in many sections of our country 
exhausted the productivity of our soil. 

It is not a question of whether we ought or ought not to teach the 
rising generation of farmers methods by which this depletion of our 
soils may be checked. We must do it, or the 150,000,000 people who, 
under ordinary conditions, will occupy this land 30 years hence must 
derive their foodstuffs from some other section of the globe. 

It is an error to regard the appropriations called for by this bill as 
an expense. As a matter of fact, they are investments—absolutely 
necessary investments—-from an economic standpoint, to say nothing 
about that infinitely greater question of duty to the American boy, 
who is entitled to that equality of opportunity which we do not now 
give him and which we can not give him in any other way than by so 
enlarging his sphere of education that he may enter upon his life work 
equipped as Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and other 
European countries equip their sons. 

Those who read the accompanying symposium will observe that the 
leading thought of those who are chiefly interested in the $4,000,000 
appropriation for agricultural schools is the solution of the great 
economic problem which confronts us, to wit, that something must be 
done to change our agricultural conditions, to the end that we may 
not, within the next 10 or 20 years, be importers rather than exporters 
of foodstuffs. 

At the request of your committee the Commissioner of Education 
has furnished the following statement as to the number of scholars, 
respectively, in the elementary or grammar grades, the high schools, 
and the college^ together with the percentage of cost for each class. 
It will probably surprise those who have not given the matter much 
consideration to learn that only 1.71 per cent are in the college 
grades; only 5.35 per cent in the secondary, or high-school, grades. 
The great mass of our boys—to be exact, 92.93 per cent—are in the 
elementary grades. 

The commissioner’s report shows that we are taking splendid care of 
those who enjoy the benefits of high-school and college courses—the 
7 per cent—but we are not doing our duty to the other 93 per cent— 
the children of those who, by reason of having to become the bread¬ 
winners of the family, do not pass beyond the elementary grades. 


16 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The commissioner states that the cost of pupils in the elementary 
grades is $21.78 per capita; of those in the public high schools, $45; of 
those in the university, $280. 

The following table, which accompanied his statement, showing 
cost of elementary, secondary, and higher (college) grades, is deemed 
of interest, and is therefore inserted here: 


Per cent of enrollment and 'per cent of cost for the three grades in 1908-9. 


Grades. 

Per cent of 
enrollment. 

Per cent of 
cost. 

Elementary. 

92.93 

74.68 

Secondary. 

5.35 

10.08 

Higher. 

1.71 

15.24 



Little respect should be accorded the man who would intentionally 
deprecate the liberal expenditure made for the maintenance of the 
splendid colleges and universities that are doing so much for the 
progress and prosperity of our land; but we should have no more 
respect for the man who, having enjoyed a college education, is 
inclined to oppose, because of the expense, the training necessary to 
equip with sufficient education to enable them to become good self- 
respecting, self-supporting citizens, those who are so situated that 
they can not avail themselves of a college course. 

It will not answer for any man to say that this bill is extravagant, 
that it appropriates too much, that it is too liberal with the sons of 
those who toil, unless he is at the same time able to point out some 
other and better method whereby the boy may be equipped for his 
life work. To-day, in far too large numbers, these boys, through no 
fault of their own, are drifting into a cheap and oftentimes criminal 
manhood, and their lack of educational advantages and their environ¬ 
ment are responsible for this condition. 

No one can read the compendium of opinions which are submitted 
herewith as a part of this report without reaching the conclusion that 
the great mass of the American people demand that something be 
done. The field is already white for the harvest. To turn a deaf 
ear to these appeals is to develop within the next decade a generation 
of malcontents and anarchists, and all because we are unwilling to 
appropriate the insignificant sum of 14 cents per capita per annum 
from the Public Treasury for a cause more pregnant with importance 











VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 17 

from a legislative standpoint than any other that now is, or for 50 
years has been, before the American people. 

As a result of this correspondence and of the investigations made 
a bill amended and perfected according to the best light shed upon 
this measure by the correspondence is herewith submitted, and your 
subcommittee .respectfully recommends that as amended the bill be 
favorably reported to the Senate. 

Carroll S. Page, 

Subcommittee. 

The following symposium is largely made up of excerpts from com¬ 
munications received in response to letters sent out by Senator Page, 
by direction of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 
to State superintendents of public instruction, presidents of agri¬ 
cultural colleges, and others prominent in the cause of agricultural 
and industrial education. In some cases the}" have come from other 
sources. 

They are classified by States, and the different lines of thought 
emanating from the North, East, South, and West are especially inter¬ 
esting, when considered seetionally, as showing the favorable trend of 
public sentiment with reference to this important economic, industrial, 
and educational problem. 

Collectively, they seem to show beyond question that the American 
people are in favor of immediate action by the National Congress on 
this important subject, and that they will regard any longer delay in 
cooperation between the Federal Government and the States as not in 
the line of true economy. It probably is no exaggeration to say that 
more than 95 per cent of all these extracts from letters, trade journals, 
etc., are commendatory of the fundamental principles of this bill, 
although the bill as it was originally drawn received more or less 
criticism as to its minor details. 

It is probably true that wherever Senate bill No. 3 has been under 
discussion there has been a practical unanimity of sentiment in favor 
of its hearty indorsement. In very rare instances where the bill has 
seemed to raise some doubts as to its effect upon agricultural colleges 
there has been some criticism upon the minor features of the bill, but 
in only 2 of the 48 States and Territories have the main features of 
the bill have been opposed. 

ALABAMA. 

J. A. Wilkinson, commissioner of agriculture and industries, says: 

“ We of Alabama are very much interested and concerned about 
vocational education, and we believe that the time is at hand 
when the Federal Government should move in this direction. 

S. Rept. 405, 62-2-2 


18 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


“I believe that if the Federal Government would make an 
appropriation and lead the States in this movement, this would 
be one of the wisest steps that could possibly be taken by our 
great statesmen in Washington.” 

James X. Powers, president State Normal College, Florence, says: 

“I have read the bill with interest, and hope to see it passed 
at an early day.” 

J. W. Watson, A. B., president of the first district agricultural 
school, Jackson, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of the vocational educational bill, 
which is now pending in Congress, and I sincerely hope that it 
will pass. The progress of vocational education is very much 
retarded because of lack of funds; in fact, as I see and under¬ 
stand the situation in the States, very little progress can be made 
along agricultural and industrial lines until Congress comes to 
our rescue and gives us an appropriation.” 

ARIZONA. 

R. H. Forbes, University of Arizona, Tucson, says: 

“Replying to yours of December 4, allow me to express my 
heartiest appreciation of the motives actuating Senate bill No. 
3, a copy of which you have just forwarded me.” 

ARKANSAS. 

George B. Cook, State superintendent of public instruction, Little 
Rock, says: 

“I regret it is impossible to attend conference, but send hearty 
indorsement of Page bill and assure you of most cordial cooper¬ 
ation of the Arkansas department of public instruction and myself 
personally. This measure specifically recognizes the most im¬ 
portant duty that rests upon the Nation as well as upon the 
individual, community, and State the duty of training for citi¬ 
zenship through public schools.” 

J. J. Doyne, president Arkansas State Normal School, Canway, 
says: 


“Permit me to urge that you use your influence as far as 
possible in securing the passage of the Page bill, entitled ‘A bill 
to cooperate with the States, ; etc. No measure that has been 
presented for years, it seems to me, means so much to the rapid 
advancement of those measures so vital to the prosperity of our 
country. I beg to assure you that aught that you may do or 
say in behalf of the measure will be appreciated by its many 
friends.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


19 


Victor C. Kays, State Agricultural School, Jonesboro, says: 

“This bill is one of vital interest to. the farming people, not 
only of the South, but of the whole country. On our farming 
people depends the prosperity of the rest of our population. 
Heretofore the farmer has received little recognition along the 
lines of instruction from the Federal Government. When we 
compare the expenditure for the uplift of the farming people with 
those which have been made for other classes of our population 
and for other purposes which are not constructive in their nature, 
the sums meted to agriculture and the mechanic arts seem to 
be a mere pittance. The people throughout this State are 
thoroughly alive to the benefit to be derived from aid of this sort, 
and they are watching the acts of their Kepresentatives with a 
great deal of interest to see that every effort is put forth for the 
passage of this bill, which seems to us to be best adapted to our 
needs at the present time. It would seem, with the proper 
direction of the efforts of our statesmen who are interested in 
benefiting the condition of the agricultural community, that 
this bill should become a law. I hope that you will use every 
effort to assist us in this matter, and trust that you will call on 
any or all of us, who are vitally interested in this measure, for 
any assistance which we may be able to give you whatsoever.% 

H. G. Spaulding, secretary of the chamber' of commerce, Pine 
Bluff, says: 

“I have read your letter carefully, and also the accompanying 
copy of your bill and the indorsements thereof, and wish to say 
that it will have my unqualified support in every way. I will 
take occasion to review your measure in the forthcoming issue 
of Back to the Land, and will urge our people to secure the 
support of their Senators therefor.” 

CALIFORNIA. 

Edward Hyatt, State superintendent of public instruction, Sacra¬ 
mento, says: 

“Please count me in to do everything I can in my bailiwick 
for the Page bill. You are free to quote me to any desired 
extent as favoring the bill and being ready to further its inter¬ 
est in all legitimate ways.” 

Daily Journal of Commerce, San Ffancisco, says: 

“Senator Page in moving this reform is doubtless acting under 
an impulse aroused by the fact that the day seems to have 
arrived when the United States can no longer rely for a balance 
of trade in the commerce of the world upon her exports of grain. 
It has become apparent that the population of the country has 
reached proportions that demand the retention of too large a 
proportion of its grain and some other products heretofore freely 
exported to enable it to offset its importations with these exports, 
and that in order to increase the yield of cereals and other 
agricultural products better methods of farming must be intro¬ 
duced. It is also necessary to improve industrial conditions in 
order to be able to compete with other nations in manufactures.” 


20 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


COLORADO. 

Hon. S. Guggenheim, United States Senator from Colorado, says: 

“I have your letter of the 13th instant relative to Senate bill S T 
introduced by you, a bill to cooperate with the States in encour¬ 
aging instruction in agriculture, etc., and I shall be very glad to 
read the inclosures forwarded by you, as I am in hearty sympathy 
with the purposes of the bill.” 

At a meeting of the Colorado Teachers' Association a resolution 
formally indorsing Senate bill 3 was adopted, and at a later meeting 
of the educational council of Colorado the committee on vocational 
instruction made a report strongly favoring the enactment of Senate 
bill 3 and indorsed the action of the Colorado Teachers' Association. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Charles L. Beach, president of the Connecticut Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, Storrs, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of the passage of a bill in aid of agri¬ 
cultural extension. The results from an investment of this 
character promise large returns, and I trust that the present Con¬ 
gress may take favorable action upon this important measure.” 

Charles D. Hine, secretary of the Connecticut State Board of 
Education, Hartford, writes: 

“Your letter of December 2 and the accompanying bill and 
expressions of opinion were laid before the State board of edu¬ 
cation. At a meeting held December 19, 1911, the following 
vote was passed: Voted, that this board does not approve the 
bill before Congress entitled ‘A bill to cooperate with the States 
in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics 
in secondary schools; in maintaining instruction in these voca¬ 
tional subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining extension 
departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, 
and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure.' ” 

DELAWARE. 

H. Hayward, of the Delaware State Board of Education, expressed 
his approval of the Page bill by offering to come to Washington to 
aid in the passage of the measure, if necessary. His telegram is as 
follows: 

“Will my presence at Page bill conference to-morrow aid in 
any way the passage of his bill? I represent Delaware College 
and Delaware State Board of Education.” 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Clarence J. Owens, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Commer¬ 
cial Congress, Washington, D. C., says: 

“The Southern Commercial Congress, through its executive 
officers, has approved the Page vocational education bill now 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


21 


pending in the Senate. Without sectional or political motives 
the Southern Commercial Congress has been named by friends 
of this measure as the national headquarters for the advocacy 
of the passage of the bill. ,? 

Dr. Myers, principal of the McKinley Manual Training School at 
Washington, D. C., says: 

“After considerable study of the subject, with particular 
attention to Germany, which is far ahead of other countries in 
training for the industries, I am forced to the conclusion that 
a satisfactory system of industrial education in this country 
must include a working over of the elementary school curricu¬ 
lum in such a way as to make the industrial activities of the 
community the vitalizing factor in it.” 

Dr. William Davison, newly elected superintendent of public 
schools, District of Columbia, says: 

“I am in favor of working out further the idea of introducing 
vocational subjects into the curriculum of the schools. People 
are beginning to realize that boys and girls must be taught to 
earn a living and that they can not spend their entire time in 
studying so-called classical subjects. All children must be 
educated on their ethical side and must be taught about the 
higher things of life, but they must also be taught that they 
must support themselves and be given lessons in how to earn 
money. Our schools should be well balanced, with both these 
ideas kept well to the front.” 

“I have just written a letter giving my hearty indorsement to 
the Page bill known as Senate bill No. 3. 

“I am exceedingly pleased to know that you have received 
such an unqualified and hearty indorsement of your bill from 
the State superintendents of the public institutions throughout 
the country.” 

Mr. Myron Germain Jones, director of education in the Washington 
Young Men’s Christian Association, says: 

“What private initiative has amply attested as wise and needed; 
what careful investigations of educational leaders, economists, 
and captains of industry have clearly shown to be the new de¬ 
mand if we are to be a nation of producers; what States like 
Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, and Massachusetts have already done in 
consolidated rural schools and in trade training systems related 
to local industry, would all go to demonstrate the desirability of 
enacting the provisions of this bill into our Federal scheme of 
education, and that without delay. 

“This educational work is democratic and Christlike because 
of its humbler aims—humbler as regards culture, per se, but vaster 
as regards humanity. It aims not, like the university, to reach 
and teach a maximum of knowledge and truth, but to evolve the 
maximum of individual manhood; to reach down to the man 
who has not had a chance, to help him up, to put his feet on the 
first step he can now reach, to help him upward, stair by stair, 


22 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


as he is able to advance, not necessarily to the highest reach of 
truth and knowledge attainable by man, but to the highest 
attainable by this man, practicable for him; to make his life the 
greatest, richest, and most helpful it can be made within his span 
of being.” 

The Evening Star, Washington, D. C., says: 

“The rural educational problem is one that has long been 
neglected. It is also one of the most important problems of the 
present day. Fifty-five per cent of the population of the United 
States live in rural districts and in small villages. Sixty-five per 
cent of the children are there. In many parts of the country we 
' still have the one-room school, where the teacher is supervisor, 
principal, superintendent, and teacher all in one. 

“Too many boys are being turned loose in the world to live in 
a makeshift way; turned loose without any one desirable thing 
having been well enough learned to make a living at it. A good 
brick mason is surer of a comfortable life than an indifferent law¬ 
yer and is a bigger factor in the upbuilding of the world/’ 

FLORIDA. 

William Ilalloway, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Tallahassee, says: 

‘ | The State department of education and the friends of edu¬ 
cation throughout Florida are strongly in favor of the passage 
of the Page bill.” 

J. J. Vernon, dean of the College of Agriculture, University of 
Florida, says: 

“ The Page bill, Senate 3, is both practical and comprehensive. 
It is the best bill yet offered having for its purpose the training 
of the sadly neglected masses. It is socially and economically 
sound. Congressional action is necessary to draw out back¬ 
ward States. The action of Congress is urgently needed. I 
indorse the Page bill.” 

GEORGIA. 

M. L. Brittain, State superintendent of education, Atlanta, says: 

“I feel a great interest in the Page bill. It seems to me that 
the measure proposed is directed toward a vital need. It so 
happens that, through the concentration of wealth in urban 
localities, the child in the city and town receives from two to 
ten times as much educational assistance as the one on the 
farm. This, too, despite the fact that we are all dependent upon 
the results of the work of those engaged in agriculture. 

“I earnestly hope that the bill will pass, and that in this way 
more help may be given to each State to promote rural life and 
prosperity.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


23 


Southern Machinery, Atlanta, says: 

‘‘That industrial education has assumed national importance 
and is attracting attention throughout the United States is shown 
by a bill recently introduced in the Senate by Senator Carroll S. 
Page, with a view to Government aid to the States in promoting 
a, better system of education along agricultural and industrial 
lines and in home economics. The bill as it stands at present 
may not be entirely satisfactory in every respect, but the subject 
is worthy the best thought of the Nation. Industrial education 
has been tried in a comparatively small way and found to be 
helpful. It has passed the experimental stage and bids fair to 
become one of the most important branches of public instruc¬ 
tion.” 

Hon. G. Gunby Jorden, president board of education, Columbus, 
says: 

“From a long experience in manufacturing and in farming, 
together with continued sendee for several years as a trustee in 
one of the State schools of agriculture in Georgia, and as presi¬ 
dent of the board of education of Columbus, Ga., I have had 
opportunities in forming a very decided Opinion upon the neces¬ 
sity for vocational education in the United States. I have never 
had occasion to change my views as to the great necessity for 
Federal aid in this regard. 

“A thorough training of the youths of this land in industrial, 
agricultural, and vocational work would save untold millions, 
wasted now in senseless strikes and pitiless lockouts, by a better 
and saner acquaintance between capital and labor. 

“The Federal Government, in my opinion, dealing equitably 
and fairly with all the States and Territories in this regard, is 
not only well within its constitutional rights, but could make no 
appropriation of money which would so soon, so thoroughly, and 
so lastingly benefit the people.” 

IDAHO. 

G. M. Shepherd, State superintendent of public instruction, Boise, 
says: 

. “It may please you to know that at a meeting of the Idaho 
State Teachers’ Association, held January 4 to 6, the association 
passed a resolution urging our Representatives in Congress to do 
all in their power to pass Senate bill 3. 

“I sincerely hope the bill will pass Congress at this session. 
I am particularly desirous that it pass at this time so that at our 
next legislature we may pass laws in harmony with the Page bill. 
The greater part of our State is agricultural and we need schools 
such as the bill makes possible. Too long has our educational 
system been at fault in that it did not prepare our boys and girls 
for useful citizenship. We need to educate them for the farm 
and the trades rather than away from them. 

“I hope a few narrow-minded people who are always crying 
expense will be able to see that this is one of the greatest and 


24 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


best pieces of legislation for the welfare of the Nation that has 
ever been introduced. 

“We will be glad to assist in any way we can to secure the 
passage of this bill.'’ 

ILLINOIS. 

Hon. C. S. Deneen, governor of Illinois, says: 

“ Since acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 11th 
instant, I have read the bill inclosed and I am in sympathy with 
its provisions concerning the introduction of vocational instruc¬ 
tion in the public schools of the secondary class. These provi¬ 
sions are in harmony with the suggestions and recommendations 
of our State educational commission, which has just completed a 
codification of our school laws and the preparation of courses of 
study in agriculture, manual training, and domestic science for 
use in these schools, as well as in the country schools of the State. 

“With the general purpose of the bill to further the introduc¬ 
tion into the public-school system of the States of education in 
the practical arts and sciences, I am in hearty accord.” 

Edwin G. Cooley, former superintendent of the Chicago public 
schools, says: 

“ America’s resources, though great, are not infinite, and we 
must learn the lesson of efficiency in work if we are to maintain 
our place. We can become a true democracy only when we are 
as much concerned about training a good blacksmith as we are 
about training a good lawyer-—when our system of schools offers 
equal opportunities to all.” 

Mr. Frank M. Leavitt, associate professor of industrial education 
in^the University of Chicago, says: 

“Your letter of June 17 addressed to the editor of the School 
Review, Chicago, Ill., is referred to me for a reply. I have been 
interested in every effort of Congress to enact legislation relating 
to the advancement of agriculture and industrial arts since the 
introduction of the Davis bill. We would be only too glad to do 
anything in our power to advance the cause. 

“The purpose of the proposed legislation seems to be to 
provide well-rounded vocational courses as well as general 
preparation for agriculture, trades, and industries, and home 
making suited to the respective sections of the United States. 
It includes encouragement for those permanently engaged in 
these vocations, and ‘not necessarily graduated for elementary 
schools,’ by the establishment of short, practical courses. It 
purposes to promote earlier interest in the scientific study of 
these fundamental human activities by giving appropriate 
instruction in specialized normal courses. The movement to 
furnish an adequate education for the agricultural and industrial 
workers of the country is now well under way, and renewed 
interest would certainly be stimulated by the passage of the 
Page bill. The bill deserves the careful reading and, we believe, 
the active support of those who hope for the rapid extension of 
free public education.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


25 


The editor of the Farm Home, Springfield, says: 

“This office will take great pleasure in aiding you in any pos¬ 
sible way in the passage of the bill.” 

The editor of the American Bee Journal, Chicago, says: 

“I am in hearty accord with your effort and trust that it may 
be successful.” 

The editor of the Farmers’ Review, Chicago, says: 

“I consider this measure along the right line. There is no 
doubt of the need of greater activity along this line for our public 
schools. It should be included in every school curriculum,” 

The editor of the National Food Magazine, of Chicago, says: 

“This measure has our hearty approval and best wishes for its 
success. After looking over, its provisions carefully, we can see 
no good reason for opposition to it, as the lack of instruction in 
agricultural trades and industries is the main reason why America 
is now falling behind Germany in the race for commercial 
supremacy.” 

Mr. Charles H. Smith, editor School Science and Mathematics, 
Chicago, says: 

“I have read with interest your bill which has in view the giv¬ 
ing of Government aid to the States in promoting a better system 
of education along agricultural and industrial lines. It is right 
in line with one of the many subjects of education for which this 
journal stands. We will be pleased to do what we can to secure 
its passage by bringing it before our readers. I have no criti¬ 
cisms to make on it; the purpose for which it is intended is 
clearly stated.” 

Mr. B. F. Han's, president Illinois Bankers’ Association, vice 
president First National Bank, Champaign, writes: 

“Your letter of July 26, stating that you had sent me copy of 
your Senate bill 3, including the bill, is duly received. There is 
no question that work and appropriation along this line is needed, 
but just how to accomplish the best results in the shortest time 
is the rub. I am chairman of the Illinois Bankers’ Association 
committee on agriculture and vocational education; also presi¬ 
dent of the Bankers’ Association. Our committee is to conduct 
a program at the annual bankers’ meeting October 11, at Spring- 
field, Ill., and we have secured Mr. James J. Hill as our chief 
speaker. 

“I will be obliged if you will send me 8 or 10 copies of your 
bill, which I may submit to our committee and others interested, 
so that they may digest the same. We are all working for the 
same end, and we ought to be able to get together on the right 
sort of bill.” 


26 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The Banker, Chicago, says: 

“Senator Page’s bill for added Federal aid to agricultural col¬ 
leges and normal schools and for the extension of instruction in 
agriculture, trades, and industries has been indorsed at Wash¬ 
ington at a conference at which were present Senator Fletcher, 
of Florida, and Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, Henry G. Wil¬ 
liams, of the National Educational Association, and others. 
The bill proposes to increase eventually Federal aid to agricul¬ 
tural colleges to about $12,000,000 a year.” 

The Argus, Rock Island, says: 

“Among the mass of measures pending in Congress is one 
fathered by Senator Page, of Vermont, that possesses exceptional 
merit. It provides for the promotion of vocational, and espe¬ 
cially agricultural, training in the public schools. 

“The Illinois Educational Association at its recent convention 
approved this advanced teaching. The State is making large 
appropriations for agricultural and vocational training in the 
public schools., but the demand exceeds the available resources 
of the State treasury. The importance of these branches of 
education is becoming more apparent from year to year, and 
their value in promoting the general welfare can not be over¬ 
estimated.” 

INDIANA. 

Charles A. Greathouse, State superintendent of public instruction, 
says: 

“It will be impossible for me to be present at the meeting in 
Washington December 14, 15, and 16, nor shall I be able to 
send a representative from this department at that time. 

“The measure you are supporting is certainly a valuable one, 
and I regret my inability at this time to be with you in promoting 
this measure.” 

J. M. Studebaker, president Studebaker corporation, South Bend, 
says: 

“I hail with entire approval the growing tendency to foster edu¬ 
cation of a practical nature having to do with the affairs of the 
shop and the farm, and it seems to me that this is especially de¬ 
sirable with reference to agriculture. I am satisfied that in no 
direction can aid be applied where it will bring such returns as 
when bestowed in diffusing intelligence respecting improved 
methods of farming. Our prosperity depends in great measure on 
the success of our farming communities. Increase the good for¬ 
tune of the farmer and advantage results to the whole country. 
I like immensel} 7 - the sentiment with which you conclude your 
epitome of the proposed legislation—‘A greater nation through 
a greater common peopled” 

J. B. Conner, editor Indiana Farmer, Indianapolis, says: 

“We have the letter of your secretary, with inclosures in regard 
to the splendid movement proposed in Congress in Senate bill 3, 
by Senator Page, of Vermont. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 27 

“ We have had correspondence with Senator Page on this sub¬ 
ject, and have already strongly urged this bill. 

“The whole country is coming more and more to understand 
that the productive forces of the Nation and the home economics 
are the factors making it great and strong, and that whatever 
measures are taken to develop and build up these are the greatest 
functions underlying public legislation. Looking to this great 
work is a bill now pending in Congress, known as Senate bill 3. 
The Indiana Farmer has been strongly advocating the features 
of this bill, and will take pleasure in cooperating in the promotion 
of its passage, as we believe it is an exceedingly important matter 
to the whole country /’ 

IOWA. 

H. H. Seerley, chairman national committee on agricultural edu¬ 
cation, and president of the Iowa State Teachers’ College, Cedar 
Falls, says: 

“The education of the whole people is so important and the 
training of teachers to do the work is so imperative that the 
United States should have a hand in the busmess. The State 
superintendents and the State normal schools give their enthusi¬ 
astic support to the Page bill. It ought to be treated as one of 
the greatest measures of this age, as it means the betterment of 
the whole country. 

“Appropriations thus made will help the people to be self- 
reliant, self-directive, and self-supporting, and, in the end, bring 
returns in citizenship and in prosperity that can not be estimated. 
The making of this measure into the law of the land would pro¬ 
duce a revolution in educational lines that would create a new 
era of enterprise and progress. 

“Our present legislature is passing a bill that will introduce 
to a limited extent agriculture and domestic arts into at least 
100 high schools during the coming year. This will be a step in 
the right direction, but the problem involves matters of such 
great importance to the country industrially that such slow 
procedure is hardly satisfactory. 

“I trust that the National Government may see fit to become 
cooperator in educational advancement as well as in other lines 
already so thoroughly indorsed.” 

Albert M. Deyoe, State superintendent of public instruction, Des 
Moines, says: 

“I wish to thank you for a copy of Senate bill 3. I heartily 
approve of this measure, and wish to assure you that you may 
depend upon my support in bringing about its passage. 

“ I believe that encouragement and assistance from a national 
source would be a great incentive to the promotion of vocational 
training in all the States. I believe there is no issue of more 
vital importance in the United States to-day than the matter of 
constructive legislation along educational lines.” 


28 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


G.F. Curtiss, of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts, says: 

“I am pleased to give the bill my hearty indorsement. The 
public-school system of America is lamentably weak in failing to 
make provision for this kind of education. The United States 
can not hope to hold a leading place among the industrial nations 
without the training of young men for efficient service in indus¬ 
trial work. 

“This problem lies at the foundation of industrial prosperity 
in all sections of our country, and the passage of this measure is 
of vital importance and ought not to be long delayed.” 

J. F. Monk, of Tobin College, Iowa, says: 

“We sincerely trust that you may be able to secure the legis¬ 
lation of this character, for a comparatively small investment 
along these lines will certainly bring immense returns in the 
future.” 

The editor of Pierce’s Farm Weeklies, of Des Moines, the Iowa 
Homestead, Wisconsin Farmer, and Farmer and Stockman, says: 

“We are greatly interested in this matter, and intend to 
comment quite liberally upon your bill in an early number of 
Pierce’s Farm Weeklies.” 

The editor of Kimball's Daily Farmer, Waterloo, says: 

“You are to be most heartily congratulated upon having 
introduced a bill of such far-reaching significance. Your bill 
most certainly ought to pass, and you may count upon us to do 
whatever we can to promote its popularity.” 

The editor of the Creamery Journal, of Waterloo, says: 

11 It seems to me that you have struck a very important line 
of work. There is no question whatever but that the Govern¬ 
ment should take an active part in this great educational move¬ 
ment, and you may count upon us for support.” 

The editor of Successful Farming, Des Moines, writes: 

“The prosperity of the world depends on successful farming, 
and successful farming depends upon the rural schools. I hope 
your efforts will meet with success.” 

The editor of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer of Waterloo, writes Senator 
Cummins a letter which contains an exceedingly intelligent statement 
showing the way in which the farmers of the West look upon Senate 
bill 3. He says: 

“I hope that you will give your hearty support to the bill S. 3, 
introduced by Mr. Page. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


29 


“I have been in position to know the need of instruction of 
this land. In every village, town, and city there are many young 
people to whom the public schools are distasteful because they do 
not offer work that is of vital interest in fighting the battle for 
bread. 

“The purpose of such schools is to develop citizens. The 
courses that are being offered tend to stimulate mental activity 
and to cultivate an appreciation of literature and art. Both of 
these are commendable but they are scarcely sufficient in them¬ 
selves, and until we give the young people of this country a little 
training that will help them to provide means whereby they can 
enjoy these finer things of life we have not done our (duty. 

“There are many boys who find their school work distasteful 
because it is so largely theoretical. If these same young people 
could be trained to use the hand as well as the brain their interest 
would be intensified and they would continue their school work 
longer than many are now doing. I can testify to all of the 
above from actual schoolroom experience. 

“Another thing that should commend this bill and secure 
its passage is the benefit that it will be to the agricultural in¬ 
dustry. It is a trite saying that prosperity goes on crutches 
when crops go wrong. Farming is fundamental to national 
prosperity, but the farms of to-day are different from the farms 
of 20 years ago, and the farmer of to-day has problems to solve 
which the farmer two decades ago knew nothing about. 

“Conservation of the soil is more vital than conservation of 
any other natural resources. The problems that are meeting 
the farmers to-day are only a foretaste of those that will confront 
the farmer 20 years from now. If we are to continue to enjoy 
prosperity we must equip farmers of future generations with a 
knowledge of fundamental principles that will make it possible 
for them to meet the problems of larger production and better 
care of land and crops. 

“The funds which this bill provides for carrying on the work 
that it outlines should not stand in the way of its passage. They 
are so infinitesimal when compared with the benefits that are 
to be derived that they are scarcely worthy of consideration. 

“If the people of the United States are to continue to hold 
the enviable position which they now enjoy they must meet such 
problems in a businesslike manner. The farmers and taxpayers 
generally should be anxious to provide for the measure.” 

KANSAS. 

E. T. Fairchild, superintendent of public instruction for the State 
of Kansas, Topeka, says: 

“I have just received your favor of June 26 and a copy of 
Senate bill 3. I have read this with much interest, and am glad 
to state that it seems to me to be a most worthy measure. I 
am heartily in sympathy with the motto ‘more books and fewer 
battleships.’ ” 


30 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The editor of the Western School Journal, of Topeka, says: 

‘ ‘ I have looked through the bill, and it seems to me it ought 
to pass.” 

The editor of the Missouri Valley Farmer, Topeka, says: 

“Your bill seems designed to correct a great evil, and the 
Government may well concern itself about the matter.” 

KENTUCKY. 

Barksdale Hamlett, superintendent public instruction, Hopkins¬ 
ville, says: 

“ I have your communication of December 9, in regard to your 
Senate bill on agriculture, trades, and industries and home 
economics in secondary schools. 

‘ ‘ I have no hesitancy in stating on behalf of the people in 
Kentucky, and especially those who are. alive to educational 
needs, that we regard this as one of the most important meas¬ 
ures before the present Congress and sincerely hope that it will 
be passed at an early date and signed by the President. I 
believe that the passage of this bill, even though the appropri¬ 
ation will be small compared with the other great governmental 
expenditures, will do more for the cause of agricultural interests 
than anything that has been done in the past 50 years. I 
sincerely hope that it will be passed. 

“I am at your command for any assistance that I may be able 
to render, and shall be glad to urge every Member of Congress 
from my State to support the bill.” 

J. G. Crabbe, president Eastern Kentucky State Normal, Rich¬ 
mond, says: 

“I regret that previous engagements prevented my attending 
conference behalf of Page bill (S. 3). I beg to assure the con¬ 
ference that Kentucky educators believe this bill is vitally impor¬ 
tant to a broader national view and responsibility as to fitting 
our children for successful life. 

U I hope you will do all in your power to secure the passage of 
this bill. It receives the hearty support of educators throughout 
the country, and in my opinion is a very desirable measure, as 
the questions involved are among the most important in present- 
day needs.” 

Mary C. Roark, acting president, Eastern Kentucky State Normal 
School, says: 

“The students and faculty of this school are very much inter¬ 
ested in the bill providing for the teaching of agriculture in the 
normal schools.” 

The Southern School Journal, Lexington, says: 

“I have your letter of the 17th instant, with copy of Senate 
bill 3. I thank you for the privilege of close examination of the 
measures proposed therein. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


31 


“While I have not as yet given attention to the details of the 
measure, I have noted the leading features and provisions, and 
propose to do all that may be in my power to secure the passage 
of the measure. 

“Our country is so large and even its agricultural interests are 
so varied that a system suited to a smaller country would not 
only be inadequate, but harmful and wasteful. I am particu¬ 
larly pleased with the feature of your measure which creates each 
State or Territory as a practical unit for the working out of its 
own agricultural salvation.” 

The Courier Journal, Louisville, says: 

“The country is gradually waking up to the importance of 
vocational education. To put such an education within reach 
of the masses is a gigantic undertaking. Advocates of the 
Page bill believe that the measure presents the only practical 
plan that so far has been devised; that the United States might 
profitably expend the price of a battleship every year in such 
an enterprise and thus encourage the States to ‘come across' 
with more liberal appropriations of their own for the support of 
their agricultural colleges, experiment stations, and vocational 
schools.” 

Ellsworth Regenstein, late State superintendent of public instruc¬ 
tion, Frankfort, says: 

“Your letter of the 2d instant, with inclosed copy of Senate 
bill 3, has been received. The bill meets with my approval and 
I shall be glad to cooperate with you in bringing about its 
passage.” 

LOUISIANA. 

T. H. Harris, of the department of education, Louisiana, says: 

“I have examined the bill and wish to give it my indorsement. 
I think it is a good one and trust that it will pass both Houses. 
I wish that I could be present in person and render all possible 
assistance.” 

MAINE. 

President Fellows, of the University of Maine, says: 

“By means of assistance proposed in this bill we can accom¬ 
plish in five years what would otherwise require a century.” 

Payson Smith, superintendent of public schools, Augusta, says: 

“I have examined with much care Senate bill 3, which you 
sent me with a request for suggestion. I fail to note any points 
whatever in which this bill could be improved. It strikes me 
that it is so framed that it meets most acceptably the varying 
conditions of control of the several States. I am certainly 
much in favor of the enactment of a measure of this kind, and 
shall be very happy to be of any possible service in promoting its 
interests.” 


32 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


MARYLAND. 

B. H. Crocheron, principal of the agricultural high school of Sparks, 
says: 

“I am greatly obliged to you for the literature relative to the 
Page bill, concerning which I am exceedingly hopeful. I, of 
course, believe in the bill, and am doing all possible to bring it 
before the people. I hope to secure its consideration at the 
National Country Life Congress to be held at Spokane November 
23-29.” 

The Manufacturers Record, Baltimore, says: 

“We have considered your letter of July 17 and its inclosure, 
but we are obliged to tell you that we can not support the 
measure in Senate bill 3. We have long felt it is beyond the 
province of the Federal Government to participate in the educa¬ 
tion of the American people.” 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The Weekly Bulletin, Boston, says: 

“The educational bill recently introduced in the United States 
Senate by Senator Page, of Vermont, is' printed in full in this 
week’s issue. The scope of this bill and the good that it is 
intended to do the young people on the United States is of 
tremendous importance and shows a policy on the part of Senator 
Page of endeavoring to carry through one of the best measures 
which this country has ever seen. 

“It seems as if no thinking man who has at heart the per¬ 
manent welfare of this country would do anything but indorse 
legislation of this land. It is only through such helpful meas¬ 
ures, increasing the education and consequently the efficiency 
of the people of the United States, that we can hope to maintain 
the position which we desire among the civilized nations. The 
country to-day is severely distorted by commercialism, animated 
with the idea of big wages and big profits and attracting more of 
the population than is good for the country to the manufacturing 
and merchandising centers. 

“There is a great lack of the knowledge of what true success 
in business and in life really is, and the more that the country can 
grasp the spirit of Senate bill 3 and get away from legislation 
and political influence which encourages and fosters greed, 
selfishness, and monopoly profits, the more the United States 
will advance.” 

Mr. Herbert Myrick, president National League for Industrial 
Education, and editor of the Orange Judd Agricultural Weekly, at 
Springfield, says: 

“Rest assured that not only our periodicals but our entire organ¬ 
ization, will do everything possible to promote this beneficent 
bill. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


33 


“Knowledge is power, provided you have the capacity to use 
it, and that is what this system of education does. It incul¬ 
cates not only science, which is knowing, but art, which is doing, 
so that when the boys and girls come out of these schools and 
colleges they not only know, but the} 7- can do; whereas, as so 
man} 7 of us know from stern experience in dealing with a large 
number of people, a great' many graduates from colleges and 
universities are educated to death and can not do anything. It 
takes several years to learn how to work. 

“The experience of the institutions which I have cited, 
gathered, and presented to you in a very definite way do abso¬ 
lutely demonstrate and prove that the result of this training is 
of the utmost benefit in increased efficiency. 

“ Now, on the mechanical and trades side, let me illustrate a 
point by a chart I have here, showing the money value of indus¬ 
trial training. This is from the Newark Technical High School, 
at Newark, N. J. This chart shows that the so-called skilled 
mechanic in the industries of New Jersey earns $15 to $25 a 
week. But let the same adult mechanics spend their evenings 
for a while acquiring technical training and industrial education, 
and so greatly is their capacity developed that at the age of 45 
they occupy positions that pay an average of $66 a week. This 
is the actual result of a census taken of the graduates of the 
Newark Technical High School, which is an evening school. 
These are mechanics who work at their trade during the day, 
who come in and attend evening classes, and I think 3,000 of 
them, over a long period of years, have raised their pay from an 
average of $20 to $25 a week to $66 a week. 

“No other one agency has contributed so much to the rapid 
rise industrially of Germany as have her technical schools in 
each of the productive classes. 

“Japan studied the educational systems of all countries; and, 
having copied Germany and other countries which have inaugu¬ 
rated vocational education, is rapidly introducing a new indus¬ 
trial era.” 

Mr. Chas. H. Winslow, acting secretary of the committee on indus¬ 
trial education of the American Federation of Labor, and a member 
of the Commission on Industrial Education in the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts, says: 

“The difficulty with the present system of school education is 
that the boys want to wear white collars and cuffs all the time. 
They would prefer to get a salary of $7 per week than a wage of 
$27. They ao not see anything in working for wages, but they 
do see a great deal in working for a salary.” 

He illustrated by the story of a young man who upon graduat¬ 
ing from high school wrote a letter to his principal saymg: 

“Mr. Principal, I have gone four years to your school; I have 
my diploma, and what am I going to do ?” 

“Why,” said his principal, “we have done the very best we 
could for you. We have steered you through these courses, 
S. Rept. 405, 62-2-3 


34 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


taking you out through the channel by the rocks into the ocean 
of life. Now, you can go your own way.” 

“Really,” replied the pupil, “what you have done for me is, 
You have steered me through the channel by the rocks out into 
the ocean where there is nothing but fog and I can only blow 
my whistle.” 

“Something must be done and the only way to do it is to 
encourage the passing of this bill.” 

Deputy Commissioner C. A. Prosser, of the State board of edu¬ 
cation, says: 

“The vocational school differs from the regular high school in 
aim, content, method, and social function. The high school 
gives general training for life; the vocational gives specific 
training for a definite calling. The difference is organized 
knowledge with deferred values as contrasted with applied 
knowledge and immediate values. The method of the high 
school is abstract and formal; that of the vocational, concrete 
and direct. 

“The two should not be regarded as competitive but as par¬ 
allel institutions, each tapping a different school strata.” 

The Commercial Bulletin, Boston, says: 

“The bill introduced by Senator Carroll S. Page, of Vermont, 
to encourage instruction in agriculture, the trades and indus¬ 
tries, and home economics in secondary schools, is still pending 
before Congress. 

“There is no doubt that industrial education is not developed 
to anything like the extent to which it might well be developed 
in this country, and if we are to remain in the front rank of man¬ 
ufacturing nations, we must have not only the best machinery 
in the world, but also the best-trained hands and brains to oper¬ 
ate it. 

“Whether Senator Page’s bill will accomplish all that is hoped 
from it is, of course, uncertain, but it is gratifying to note that 
the legislative branch of our National Government is devoting 
intelligent thought to a problem that is as serious and important 
as any bill that can come before them, as it concerns the welfare 
and progress of our people.” 

The Journal of Education, of Boston, says: 

“A bill of considerable interest to educators, and especially 
to those engaged in vocational training, was introduced in the 
United States Senate last April by Senator Page, of Vermont. 
As the bill is framed, it seems to be in shape for final passage, 
and it is certainly a bill that we should like to see made into a 
law. Its provisions are generous and it would stir up all those 
States that are in need of an incentive along the lines of indus¬ 
trial education and vocational training.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


35 


The Printing Art, Cambridge, says: 

“We have read with much interest the cop}^ of the bill you 
recently introduced in the Senate to encourage instruction in 
agriculture, the trades, industries, etc. There is a great need of 
the Government undertaking this work.” 

Horticulture, published at Boston, says: 

“Senate bill 3, by Senator Carroll S. Page, now in the hands of 
the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, provides for Gov¬ 
ernment aid to the States in promoting a better system of educa¬ 
tion along agricultural and industrial Tines and home economics. 
The problem of wise and efficient training of young men and 
young women, always a paramount one, becomes now more 
serious than ever, under the restrictions on a broad-gauge, 
mechanical knowledge imposed by existing factory methods in 
the division of labor and by labor uliion prescriptions. The high 
school, the academy, and the college are taking excellent care of 
those boys who are financially able to avail themselves of their 
advantages, but for him who can not, little remains but the pros¬ 
pect of a cheap manhood. If the entry of the National Govern¬ 
ment into a comprehensive and liberal cooperation with the 
States for instruction in agriculture and the trades will modify 
and improve these defects in our industrial system, then by all 
means let us have it, even if it becomes necessary to economize 
by cutting out a battleship or two. It is an excellent measure, 
and we hope it will receive a favorable reception everywhere. 

Max Mitchell, superintendent of Federated Jewish Charities, 
Boston, Mass., says: 

“I am very much interested in this bill and want to add a 
word of indorsement for-the passage of the bill, which tries to 
cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in agricul¬ 
ture, trades, and industries. 

“In the work that I am doing I have for many years felt the 
great need of work of this kind. I feel that the poor boy does 
not get a fair chance or an equal chance with the rich boy or the 
boy of the well-to-do parents to obtain a proper education. In 
the early years, when the child is 14 and upward, when he is 
about to get the understanding of an education, he must go to 
work and earn enough to help support his home. He is thus 
cut short at the most important time from continuing his studies. 

“I believe in giving education to the great masses of this 
great country instead of the small number of 10 per cent, as is 
given to-day. 

“To my mind no expenditure is too large that gives the people 
of the country a proper understanding of themselves, of the 
conditions surrounding them, and especially a proper under¬ 
standing and a love for whatever professional trade they are 
engaged in, because with that kind of education, I am sure, 
develops a love for one's country and for one's neighbors and for 
mankind in general.'' 


36 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Mr. Arthur D. Anderson, secretary committee on education, Indus¬ 
trial and Educational Exposition, Boston Chamber of Commerce, 
Boston, says: 

"I note that you have presented a bill in Congress covering 
the subject of industrial education. Inasmuch as the Boston 
Chamber of Commerce is planning an industrial and educational 
exposition to be held in this city during the month of October, 
the subject is of particular interest to us and to everybody in 
New England. The object of this exposition is to stimulate in 
the people of New England, and especially the younger genera¬ 
tion, a realization of the dignity and possibilities of a trade, and 
your work is most opportune.” 

David Snedden, commissioner, the Commonwealth of Massachu¬ 
setts, State board of education, Boston, says: 

“In answer to your kind invitation to attend a conference 
relative to the Page bill, I regret to say that my engagements 
here do not permit me to attend, much as my interests prompt 
me to do so. 

“As a member of the committee which drafted a series of 
suggestions to the National Society for the Promotion of Indus¬ 
trial Education relative to the Page bill, I trust that careful 
attention will be given to certain provisions tending to guarantee 
the efficiency of the education which will be made possible by 
national aid. It would make a very great difference to the 
future of education in this country if at the outset a measure of 
this sort could be so framed as to guarantee standards of effi¬ 
ciency. I commend to your consideration the report presented 
to the national society by our committee, a copy of which I 
inclose. 

“Of course it goes without question that I am in favor of 
any substantial assistance to the cause of industrial education, 
if it can be guaranteed that its administration will proceed along 
sound lines.” 

Kenyon L. Butterfield, president of the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College, says: 

“I am in favor of the passage of the vocational educational 
bill, because I believe the movenient for a wise and sane voca¬ 
tional school needs the financial support of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment. 

“I believe that the people generally will stand back of the 
movement.” 

Note. —While Commissioner Snedden and President Butter¬ 
field both have kind words to say about vocational education, 
they criticize some portions of Senate bill No. 3. 

Lewis C. Grandy, editor The Printing Art, Cambridge, says: 

“It is obvious that there is great need for more industrial 
schools in this country, such as those in which German workmen 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


37 


are trained. The establishment of such schools can be brought 
about if a determined effort is made. A comprehensive plan 
for education along agricultural and industrial fines is included 
in a bill Senatoi Page, of Vermont, has recently introduced in 
the United States Senate. This may not be entirely satisfactory 
to everyone and some of the details can, perhaps, be amended 
slightly, but its general purpose is such that it should receive 
hearty support.” 

MICHIGAN. 

Hon. Chase S. Osborn, governor of Michigan, writes: 

“My Dear Senator Page: Your bill to cooperate with the 
various States in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the 
trades and industries, domestic economics in secondary schools, 
etc., is a good measure in my opinion. No nation is better or 
stronger than the average of its people. The activity you seek 
to encourage is necessary, and I hope sincerely that your bill 
will pass.” 

Jesse B. Davis, principal Central High School, Grand Rapids, says: 

“My attention has been called to your bill to encourage voca¬ 
tional education among the States in secondary schools. I have 
read the bill with much interest and wish to express my appre¬ 
ciation of your efforts in this most worthy cause. My expe¬ 
rience of over 16 years in the largest secondary schools of the 
West has made me a strong supporter of this phase of modern 
education.” 

The editor of The Michigan Tradesman, Grand Rapids, says: 

“I am very glad to commend this measure both personally 
and editorially, because I believe it is in the interest of progres¬ 
sive citizenship and good Americanism.” 

MINNESOTA. 

Hon. Moses E. Clapp, United States Senator from Minnesota, says: 

“ Am in receipt of your proposed bill. Permit me to say that 
while arbitration treaties and trust regulation laws may com¬ 
mand more attention, there is no measure pending before Con¬ 
gress that exceeds in importance your bill, because it goes to 
the very foundation of all our national problems, the develop¬ 
ment or the citizen. If the Republic will care for the youth of 
the land to-day, the youth will care for the Republic.” 

A. F. Woods, dean and director at the University of Minnesota, 
St. Paul, says: 

“Executive council of the department of agriculture of the 
University of Minnesota, consisting of the dean and chiefs of 
divisions, indorses the Page bill, S. 3, first, because it gives assist- 


38 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


ance through already organized educational agencies; second, 
it includes most agencies that need aid in reorganization for 
industrial education; third, it is a careful worked-out system 
based on actually existing conditions; fourth, the McKinley and 
McLaughlin bills are good as far as they go, but relate only to 
part of the problem.” 

The editor of the Daily Record, of St. Paul, says: 

“ We are very much interested in this bill, and think it should 
have the support of everybody.” 

Charles P. Craig, of Duluth, uses this language: 

“To my mind no other bill pending before Congress is so 
important to this county at large in a constructive way as this 
bill, because its purpose is to lay the foundation broad by the 
training of all the youth of the Nation for constructive work. 

“Vocational education will not down. The people are 
awakening to its value, and with that awakening grow more 
determined that a national policy of secondary education shall 
be established, just as has been done with higher industrial 
education; consequently your bill admirably fits the growing 
popular demand. Politics and selfish interests may postpone 
but will never prevent, ultimately, the passage of tnis or a 
similar bill. 

“Of m}^ own knowledge I know of foreign-born parents in 
our city of Duluth who have sent their sons back to the old 
country to learn a trade, with the purpose of coming back here 
and being skilled tradesmen.” 

A. D. Wilson, superintendent University Farm, St. Paul, says: 

“Your letter of December 7 received. This morning we took 
up at our executive council meeting, consisting of the heads 
of divisions in our institution, the matter of the Page bill, S. 3. 
We sent you a telegram expressing our views in favor of the 
bill. A copy of this telegram was sent also to both the Senate 
and House Agricultural Committees, and to Mr. Howard H. 
Gross, who is working for the McKinley bill. We certainly 
believe in the Page bill, and are ready to give any assistance 
we can to secure its passage.” 

C. G. Schulz, superintendent department of public instruction, 
St. Paul, says: 

“I heartily approve the provisions of this measure. It is 
along the same lines as those in which Minnesota has under¬ 
taken to foster that work in connection with high schools, 
secondary agricultural schools, and the college of agriculture. 

“I am fully satisfied that the plan outlined in your bill for 
industrial training, not only in secondary schools but in colleges 
and normal schools, is practical, comprehensive, fair, and 
demanded by present-day conditions. The school must be a 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


39 


training institution which directs the child's activity, not only 
•along one line but many. There must also be the means, in 
professional schools, of fitting leaders, directors, and teachers. 
This your bill makes possible.” 

The Minnesota State Dairyman’s Association at its annual con¬ 
vention held at Wadena, January 16-19, 1912, passed the following 
resolution: 

“In view of the need of a more practical type of education in 
our schools and the demonstration of improved methods of 
production on our farms, be it 

11 Resolved, That this association approve the Page bill intro¬ 
duced in the National Congress with these ends in view. We 
hereby request our Senators and Representatives to do all in 
their power to secure the passage of this measure, the secretary 
of this association to forward copies of this resolution to our 
Senators and Representatives, the chairman of the Senate and 
House Committees on Agriculture, and to Senator Page.” 

MISSISSIPPI. 

J. C. Hardy, president Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, says: 

“I am heartily in favor of this bill for industrial and vocational 
education. While I appreciate the importance of training ‘cap¬ 
tains of industry,’ yet in my judgment there is a still greater need 
of giving the ‘privates of industry’ that training that will fit' 
them for coping with modern industrial conditions and that will 
make them more efficient in dealing with all the complex prob¬ 
lems of modern life. I think the man or woman who is serving 
the world by manual labor is entitled to as much consideration 
by the State and nation as those who are engaged in the pro¬ 
fessions and other intellectual pursuits. 

“This bill, as I view it, is an effort to adapt education to the 
needs of ’the democracy. The State needs men and women who 
can do things more than it needs men and women of culture. 

“This institution thoroughly indorses your bill, and each and 
every man here stands ready to help in every possible way to 
develop public sentiment that will demand its passage. 

“Our people in hearty sympathy with the principle of bill. 
It means more to the development of our section than any bill 
since Hatch Act. It has full indorsement of this college. All 
conditions should be fixed in bill; leave nothing to be fought out 
in the legislature; command us to fullest.” 

W. L. Hutchinson, dean of the School of Agriculture, Starkville, 
says: 

‘ ‘ Regret I could not be present at the conference of the friends 
of the Page bill; the objects sought to be accomplished by the 
bill are laudable and much to be desired.” 


40 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


MISSOURI. 

William P. Evans, State superintendent of public schools, Jeffer¬ 
son City, says: 

“In general, Senate bill 3, encouraging and aiding industrial 
education has my hearty approval. The purposes of the measure 
are very laudable and I shall be willing to lend my influence 
toward securing its passage. 

“We are hoping to push in this State rapidly the establish¬ 
ment of rural high schools and are proposing to secure a per¬ 
manent fund for this purpose from the voters of Missouri at the 
next general election. It is this proposition that I refer to in 
my letter to Gov. Hadley. The proposition for the permanent 
education fund will be voted upon at the next general election, 
under the initiative and referendum. This, you see, is along 
precisely the same lines as your movement in Senate bill 3, 
to enlarge the unit of taxation. 

“In general this measure of Senator Page's and the measure 
that we are advocating for Missouri is a movement to enlarge 
the taxation unit. They are twin movements, one may say. 
The permanent education fund is a movement to derive funds 
from the State at large in order to equalize opportunities for 
the weak districts. The same thing may be said of this national 
movement. It is a proposition to make the unit Nation wide, 
and in this broad way equalize opportunities for all of the vouth 
of the land. 

“It seems to me that the bill should be amended somewhat 
and should pass. I shall be very glad if you see fit to encourage 
its adoption, even in its present form, for provision is made, 
you will note, that each State shall receive that portion of the 
appropriation for which it is prepared, and if the appropriation 
is made for these district high schools and the district high schools 
are not established, we wul receive the other aid which we are 
ready for. 

“I heartily favor the bill, except the clause relating to district 
agricultural high schools. I advise that the appropriations for 
such schools be added to that for public secondary schools and 
normal schools for brief reasons in a letter which follows.” 

W. G. Carrington, State Normal School, fourth district, Springfield, 
says: 

“1 assure you I am doing all I can in my territory to secure 
support for this measure. I am writing some letters to our 
Senators about it.” 

Anthony Ittner, of St. Louis, late chairman of the committee on 
industrial education, National Association of Manufacturers, says: 

“The point with me is to have the Page bill so framed as to 
benefit the 98 per cent of the young men of our country—those 
that need help. The 2 per cent that pass through colleges and 
universities are the sons of wealthy parents who, being able to 
help themselves, do not need help from State Government.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


41 


The editor of the American Woman's League, St. Louis, says: 

“l am certainly glad to give you my most hearty approval of 
the bill which you call to my attention." 

The Fruit Grower, St. Joseph, says: 

“Extension and demonstration work of this character by the 
agricultural colleges has been limited on account of lack of suffi¬ 
cient funds for its maintenance. But the Page bill which was 
presented to Congress last April gives promise of affording material 
relief for this kind of work, and to extend the service of the agri¬ 
cultural colleges not only to the farms but to the trades as well. 
Its prime object is to enable the National Government to appro¬ 
priate money to each State for the purpose of enlarging the 
teaching of trades and industries, home economics, and agricul¬ 
ture in the public schools. 

“The provisions of the bill also cover the maintenance of 
branch agricultural experiment stations to be located at the 
agricultural high schools provided for also by the act, and the 
maintenance in each State college of agriculture and mechanic 
arts of an extension department that will materially enlarge 
upon that of the present time. 

“It is certainly to be hoped that this bill will receive early 
enactment, and that the sums of money for which it provides 
will be quickty available, as it is for a purpose that will do more 
good for more people than the construction of all the battleships 
afloat." 

MONTANA. 

J. M. Hamilton, president Montana Agricultural College, says: 

“ We heartily indorse the principles of Federal aid for secondary 
industrial education as set forth in the Page bill, and would espe¬ 
cially emphasize the features providing for agricultural high 
schools and agricultural extension." 

F. B. Linfield, director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Bozeman, says: 

i( As director of the agricultural experiment station and a mem¬ 
ber of our board of farmers' institutes, am keenly interested in 
educational efficiency on agricultural and industrial lines. I am 
heartily interested in the Federal appropriation as outlined in the 
Page bill. I trust the friends of agricultural education, who all 
agree on the principles at the foundation of these bills, will work 
out a plan of development that will be satisfactory and beneficial 
to all interested." 

The editor of the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, Great Falls, says: 

“ We heartily indorse your bill. Hope it may pass." 


42 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


NEBRASKA. 

Mr. J. W. Crabtree, State superintendent, department of public 
instruction, Lincoln, says: 

“Permit me to thank you for sending me a copy of the bill 
which you introduced offering encouragement to the teaching of 
agriculture in the public schools, normal schools, and colleges of 
the country. I sincerely hope you may be able to secure the 
passage of this bill. If its provisions are carried out, this infor¬ 
mation and instruction in agriculture and home economics 
will be brought right down to the homes of the people. It seems 
to me that this is the important step to be taken at this time. 
I shall watch with interest the progress of this bill and use my 
influence wherever possible in its behalf.” 

Editor Hatch, of the Nebraska Farm Journal, writes: 

“There is no man of average information and intelligence but, 
who knows that this country is letting the brains of the Nation 
go to waste because no adequate vocational training is provided 
for the large middle class of America. Your bill seems to pro¬ 
vide the only practical way to quicken, increase, and develop 
the average "American deficiency. We hope your measure will 
pass.” 

E. C. Bishop, former State superintendent of public instruction, 
State of Nebraska, says: 

“A copy of the bill, S. 3, which you kindly inclosed, meets my 
approval, and I am glad to do what I can to encourage its 
passage.” 

* NEVADA. 

John Edwards Bray, superintendent of public instruction, Carson, 
says: 

“I heartily approve Page bill for encouraging instruction in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics in 
secondary schools. If the secondary schools are to get into 
touch with the industrial progress of the age, all these things 
must be made features of practical instruction. National aid is 
needed, and it will be worth more than a thousand battleships.” 

The several district educational institutes of Nevada have re¬ 
cently held meetings at Elko, Tonopah, and Las Vegas. At every 
one of those institutes this bill was one of the important subjects of 
discussion, and at each meeting the bill was very strongly indorsed. 

At the Elko institute the following resolution was adopted: 

11 Resolved, That we approve the Page bill now pending in the 
United States Senate providing for National aid in the various 
States for agricultural and industrial training in the high schools, 
as a measure of enlightened statesmanship. "The bill proposes to 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


43 


place yearly at the disposal of the States several millions of 
dollars, the first use of the money to be for the preparation of 
teachers for this work. Instead of putting millions of dollars into 
a single battleship for the destruction of human lives, how much 
better to use it for education. 

11 Resolved, That we call upon our Representatives in Congress 
to support this bill, fraught as it is with so many possibilities for 
good to the toiling millions of the Nation.” 

At Tonopali Institute the following resolution was adopted: 

“ Whereas there is pending in the United States Senate a 
measure known as the Page bill, which has for its object the ap¬ 
propriation of national funds to aid and encourage agricultural 
and industrial training in the secondary (high) schools of all the 
States; and 

11 Whereas such expenditure would be of vastly more benefit 
to our country than the millions now annually spent in building 
battleships for the destruction of human life or for useless display: 
Therefore be it 

11 Resolved, That we strongly favor the Page bill and earnestly 
request Senators Newlands and Nixon and Representative 
Roberts to give it their support.” 

At the Las Vegas Institute the following resolution was adopted: 

“Beit resolved, That we favor the introduction of the elements 
of agriculture and industrial training in the school curriculum. 
We commend the Page bill, now pending in the United States 
Senate. It proposes to appropriate national funds for agricul¬ 
tural and industrial education in the various States, first for the 
training of teachers and then for the maintenance of such instruc¬ 
tion in all secondary schools. It means eventually the disburse¬ 
ment of $12,000,000 or more annually for education instead of 
putting the same into useless battleships.” 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

J. C. Kendall, director New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment 
Station, New Hampshire College, Durham, says: 

“I am in hearty sympathy with the work which the Southern 
Commercial Congress has undertaken in pushing the Page bill, 
and I would like very much to be present at the conference 
which is to be held in Washington December 14, 15, and 16, but 
I am afraid that it will not be possible for me to be away at that 
time. 

“A large problem before the people of the United States to-day 
is putting within the reach of all the opportunity for education 
along the lines of their every-day life. We must change our 
school system in such a way that they will recognize the fact 
that when properly treated and when suitable instructors are 
provided there will be just as good training in the study of farm 
problems as in reading Greek. 


44 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


“I wish for you and your associates and the organization that 
you represent success in the passage of this bill, which will 
mean so much to the future industrial development and prosper¬ 
ity of the country.’’ 

NEW JERSEY. 

Hon. James E. Martine, United States Senator, says: 

“I have read with much interest Senate bill 3, introduced by 
you. I most heartily favor the same and shall vote for it when 
the same comes before the Senate. I have sometimes said that 
' higher education ’ has run mad, forgetting agriculture and other 
industrial pursuits, which is in reality the foundation of all our 
hopes and achievements. I agree with you that this bill is a 
most righteous one and deserves the support of all/’ 

Franklin Dye, secretary of the State board of agriculture, Trenton, 
writes: 

“Believing your work to be in the right direction, I can but 
wish you good success.” 

E. R. Johnstone, superintendent of the training school at Vineland, 
writes: 


“I have received your letter of December 1 and a copy of 
Senate bill 3, introduced April 6. May I express my hearty 
approval of its provisions?” 

NEW MEXICO. 

William H. Andrews, Territorial Delegate from New Mexico, says: 

“It will give me great pleasure to do everything in my power 
to help you pass Senate bill 3. I thoroughly believe in this bill, 
which I have read carefully.” 

B. S. Gowen, president New Mexico Normal University, says: 

“I am interested in the bill whose purpose it is to encourage 
instruction in agriculture, the trades, and home economics. Such 
work as this is of unusual importance in New Mexico, where we 
have so large a population that it must necessarily depend on 
other lines besides those in which scholarship of the ordinary kind 
plays the chief part.” 

NEW YORK. 

Eli W. Weaver, chairman of students’ aid committee of the High 
School Teachers’ Association, New York City, says: 

“There are in New York City to-day thousands of young 
people who have been trained to high ideals in the homes of 
self-sacrificing parents, who have deserved and received con- 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


45 


siderate treatment in the schools and who have enjoyed the 
respect and esteem of their associates, who have afterwards gone 
out to earn their own living in those occupations usually open 
to young people; but too frequently these young people have 
been compelled to wander around for days, in an aimless search 
for employment; they have been persuaded to accept places at 
pitiful wages, with promises of advancement, in which they 
have afterwards learned that there were ne^er any prospects of 
advancement; they have outgrown places in which there was 
no special skill or knowledge to be acquired, from which they 
were turned out without faith either in themselves or their 
fellow men or a belief in the existence of a sense of fairness or 
justice in society. However well equipped the barks in which 
the youthful sailors launch out on the troublesome seas of com¬ 
mercial and industrial life may be, the chances are against them 
unless they are provided with sailing directions. Since society 
musj in some way or other care for the disheartened, the broken- 
spirited, and the ruined, it might be well for society to provide 
the sailing directions.” 

The Times, Rochester, says: 

“A bill has been introduced into Congress by Senator Carroll 
S. Page, of Vermont, which if passed will greatly aid in the 
extension of agricultural schools in this country. The bill has 
met with a favorable reception. 

“New York State is making large expenditures for agricul¬ 
tural and vocational training, but the demand has outrun the 
available funds in the State treasury. There is no more valu¬ 
able form of education, and the value increases every year. 
With a proper knowledge of scientific agriculture the produc¬ 
tion of farm lands in this country could be vastly increased. 
Within recent years there has been a big increase in the prices 
of food products. Unless there is an increase in agricultural 
products, prices are certain to go still higher. This will mean 
a still further increase in the cost of living, which many persons 
now find oppressive. The most practical remedy in sight for 
this condition seems an increase in agricultural schools. Such 
an increase would result from the Page bill if made a law.” 

Mr. Dean, chief of the division of trade schools, New York, says: 

“The school of yesterday trained its youth for a job, while 
the school of to-morrow will train its youth for a vocation. It 
provides for every vocation for which there is reasonable demand 
and in that school the boy must remain until there is ground 
for believing that he has found a calling for which nature and 
his own effort has prepared him. 

“My father sent me to a school of yesterday so much that I 
very nearly missed an education. 

“The school of to-morrow will have over its door, ‘We con¬ 
serve the whole boy .” 1 


46 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Francis J. Cheney, principal State normal and training school, 
Cortland, says: 

“I regret exceedingly that I shall not be able to be present at 
the conference of the friends of the Page bill, Senate bill 3, on 
December 14, 15, and 16 on account of duties in connection with 
my work as principal of the State normal school. I am very 
greatly interested in this bill, and believe that its passage will be 
for the best interests of the young people whom we are training 
for citizenship. Certainly the idea embodied in the bill is taking 
a great hold on the country. The Page bill is an effort in the 
right direction to the better fitting of our young people for useful 
and successful lives. If there is anything wmch I can do to 
assist in the passage of the bill do not hesitate to let me know.” 

Benjamin R. Andrews, secretary treasurer of the Teachers College, 
New York City, says: 

“I am glad to know that your bill for Federal aid to education 
is securing increasing support. I judge from the talk of economy 
that it may be impossible to secure enactment at this session, but 
I hope that you can get favorable action in the Senate. It will 
be a great step forward.” 

The Knickerbocker Press, Albany, says: 

“The Page bill seems admirably suited to promote the ends 
desired, and its advocates should receive the fullest cooperation 
from the representatives of the Empire State.” 

The National Provisioner, New York, says: 

“The bill of Senator Page deserves really active, not merely 
perfunctory, support. 

“Educators of national reputation are giving their support 
to the bill, and it should pass; but, like all measures proposed in 
Congress, merit alone will not be sufficient to secure its enact¬ 
ment. Public sentiment must be aroused and its virtues made 
known. 

“This seems fo be a sensible, systematic way of increasing 
knowledge of how to expand our supply of live stock and other 
agricultural products, as well as to educate the future genera¬ 
tions in other useful directions.” 

The Standard, Watertown, says: 

“Senator Page, of Vermont, deserves hearty support in his 
measure to promote vocational training and instruction in agri¬ 
culture in the public schools.” 

C. W. Burkett, editor of the American Agriculturist, New York, 
says: 

“I am very much interested in your bill, which proposes that 
the National Government shall cooperate with the States in 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


47 


encouraging instruction in agriculture, the trades, industries, 
and home economics in secondary schools and in preparing 
teachers for these vocational subjects. I do not hesitate to say 
that this measure, if enacted into law, will be of the utmost 
benefit, not only to agriculture, but to the entire country. 

“I have made a very careful examination of the bill and have 
studied the needs of the schools for a great many years, and I 
am confident that this measure is one of the most needful now 
before Congress, and that I am expressing the opinion of tens 
and hundreds of thousands of farmers and industrial people 
when I urge the passage of this measure. 

“The American Agriculturist weeklies are with you heart 
and soul in this matter. In the past we have given page after 
page to the effort to secure a better system of education along 
agricultural and industrial lines. Just recently I have had an 
editorial telling about the Page bill and what it seeks to do. 
We shall keep right at this matter, hoping that in the end the 
idea will win.” 

The Business Men’s Association of Newburgh gives expression to 
most important thought in this language: 

“The lack of knowledge of how to till the soil is the great 
economic evil of our country, and it can easily be corrected by 
teaching the rising generation the art of agriculture. No 
nation can be truly great that is not firmly established on a 
sound agricultural basis. 

“Everyone takes a great interest and pleasure in his work, 
no matter what it is, if he can do it well, and his joy is in his 
work in proportion to his skill. 

“The dissatisfied workers resort to strikes and employers to 
lockouts, creating enmity where there should be friendship and 
cooperation.” 

******* 

“Are we leading the world, as we should do, in solving this 
problem ? Are we even abreast of other nations in this respect ? 
No; by no means. We are perhaps third or fourth to Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, Denmark, and probably Sweden. What 
are they doing that is better than our methods ? They are first 
developing children physically and training their hands as 
much as the brains and giving each a trade. Rich and poor 
alike must learn a trade, even to the sons of the Emperor of 
Germany. They have then an appreciation of the dignity of 
labor instead of despising it, as we do. 

“We have great conventions of governors in Washington to 
beg for a conservation of the resources of our country, when our 
Nation’s greatest resources, the lives and health of our children, 
are being squandered in nearly every school in the country.” 

The Engineering News, New York City, says: 

“I heartily agree with you that the greatest need of the country 
to-day is to better the instruction in our common schools and 
secondary schools, so as to better fit the students therein for the 
real work of life.” 


48 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The Times, Glens Falls, says: 

“ Among the great mass of measures introduced in Congress 
there occasionally is one especially worthy and one calculated to 
be of service in advancing the interests of the people of the coun¬ 
try. Such a measure the Page bill, introduced by Senator Car- 
roll S. Page, of Vermont, for the promotion of vocational and, 
especially, agricultural training in the public schools of the coun¬ 
try, appears to be.” 

Director J. G. Schurman, president of Cornell University, says: 

“I am greatly interested in the subject, as I feel very deeply the 
need of making better provisions than we now have for encourag¬ 
ing instruction in agriculture, the trades and industries, and home 
economics in institutions of instruction readily accessible to the 
mass of our people.” 

The Commercial, Buffalo, says: 

“ There is little doubt that eventually some system similar to 
that proposed by Senator Page will become effective. More and 
more the attention of the country is being turned to the necessity 
of better facilities for industrial and agricultural education for the 
young of the rural sections, and the present bill, while it may have 
its defects, is sure to have its influence in securing legislation 
along the lines suggested. 

“It is a remarkable coincidence that another Vermont man, 
Senator Morrill, was the father of the bill which established the 
State college of agriculture and mechanic arts.” 

Chancellor James K. Day, of Syracuse University, says: 

“It is not enough to educate a few specialists for management 
of large estates or the farms of fancy farmers. Farm education 
should be as extensive as farming. It should be within reach of 
all parts of the State as plain, practical courses of study, illus¬ 
trated by object lessons of farms and grounds and by animals, 
plants, fruits, insects, friendly and destructive birds, beneficial 
and harmful, and in practical farm industries and in higher 
courses in chemistry, bacteriology, soil analysis, and animal and 
, plant breeding, farm economics, farm architecture and engineer¬ 
ing. In short, the farmers should be prepared for their high 
calling, as are the doctors, lawyers, and teachers. The time 
must come, is inevitable, when the farmer, ignorant of his calling 
and conditions, will be as unusual and impossible as an ignorant 
doctor or lawyer at his practice.” 

The editor of the Financial World of New York, says: 

“We quite approve of any effort made that will lead to an 
increased efficiency of our men of to-morrow.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 49 

Mr. L. P. Alford, editor of the American Machinist, New York 
City, says: 

“Your letter of July 17, with its inclosure, a copy of Senate 
bill 3, is before me. I have read both with a great deal of interest. 
For some four years I have been studying the problem of indus¬ 
trial education, and a great deal of space has been devoted to 
it in our journal. 

“As a simple act of justice it seems to me that our Federal 
Government should appropriate funds for the furthering of the 
education of industrial workers in the same way that it fosters 
the spread of agricultural knowledge. 

“I most heartily agree with the sentiment expressed in your 
letter, to the effect that we must do something for the boys and 
girls of the great middle classes in order to really fit them for 
earning a livelihood. We are far behind Germany and Switzer¬ 
land in this particular. Something must be done at once to aid 
in transforming the green boy of the country and the untrained 
lad of the city into men trained and educated in some trade or 
vocation from which they can earn a comfortable living, and by 
the exercise of which they will be valuable units in our industrial 
life. I shall watch the course of this bill with a great deal of 
interest. The purpose of this bill is worthy and I shall support 
it as far as it is proper for me to do in the columns of my journal.” 

A. S. Draper, commissioner of education of the State of New York, 
says: 


“I have yours of December 4, inclosing a copy of Senate bill 3 
and some memoranda bearing thereon. I am not convinced that 
this bill is a wise one, and am therefore unable to send you such 
a letter as you request.” 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

D. H. Hill, president College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 
Raleigh, says: 

1 T have gone over the bill, which you were kind enough to send 
me, with a great deal of care. The general features of the bill 
commend themselves very strongly to my judgment.. The 
Nation certainly needs training along the lines suggested in the 
measures embodied in this bill, and I hope that the general plan 
may be carried out. 

“I spent most of last week in Washington and was sorry that I 
could not have some conversation with you while I was there. I 
shall certainly do all in my power to get our two Senators to sup¬ 
port the bill which your committee is drafting. If at any time 
you see any way in which I can be of service to the measure, I 
shall be very glad to hear from you.” 

S. Rept. 405, 62-2-4 


50 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


C. N. Evans, of the board of governors of the Southern Commercial 
Congress, Wilmington, says: 

“ Regret I can not appear before you in warm support of the 
Page bill. In the interest of a broader national view and of our 
children especially, I urge the adoption of the Page bill and trust 
its provisions may meet the approval of your committee.” 

J. Y. Joyner, superintendent of public instruction of North Caro¬ 
lina, says: 

“I heartily favor the passage of the bill. 

“About 82 per cent of the people in the Southern States are 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. No adequate provision has 
been made by any State for the proper education and training of 
children for the pursuits that the large majority of our people 
are now following for a living. 

“The bill proposes to stimulate and help the States to help 
themselves without being paternalistic, without interfering with 
the autonomy of the State systems of education, or without any 
undue interference in any way by Federal authority with State 
authority.” 

The editor of the Progressive Farmer Gazette, Raleigh, says: 

“We shall be only too glad to do all in our power to help carry 
out your ideas. The measure meets with our hearty approval/’ 

Hon. William W. Kitchin, governor of North Carolina, says: 

“In reply to your letter of the 11th, I favor the extension of 
agricultural, mechanical, and industrial education and favor the 
general purposes of the bill which you inclosed.” 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

George A. McFarland, president State normal school, Valley City, 
says: 

“I know of nothing that would be so influential in bringing 
our educational practice up to the practical demands of the times 
as the passage of the Page Senate bill. Our high schools, normal 
schools, and colleges need the stimulation this bill will give them.” 

J. W. Preston, president normal school at Madison, says: 

“Our State teachers’ association last week indorsed Senate 
bill 3 and urge our congressional delegation to support same. 
Educational sentiment in this State strongly favors the bill.” 

J. H. Worst, president North Dakota Agricultural College, says: 

“I am in hearty sympathy with the bill,” but adds that he 
thinks that the agricultural college should be somehow connected 
with the frame-up as the experiment station is with the experi¬ 
mental work provided for in the bill. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


51 


Hon. L. B. Hanna, M. C., says: 

“ I am in receipt of your letter of 9th instant. It goes without 
saying, Senator, that 1 will do everything I possibly can to help 
you to push this matter along. I believe the bill is right.” 

OHIO. 

Hon. J. J. Whitacre, M. C., Ohio, says: 

“I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind invitation asking 
me to take part in the conference called December 14-16 for the 
discussion of the Page vocational educational bill. I regret to 
say that I can not attend because of meetings of the House 
Agriculture Committee, but I hasten to assure you that I am in 
complete sympathy with the objects of the bill, and anything I can 
do to further the movement, as a member of the House Agricul¬ 
ture Committee, will be done most willingly and cheerfully.” 

Plenry G. Williams, dean of the State Normal College of Ohio, and 
member of the national committee on agricultural education, says: 

“Your notice of the 7th concerning the meeting of the Senate 
committee, December 14, 15, 16, at hand. I would like very 
much to be present and assist in presenting the matter to the 
committee. It may be possible for me to do so. If I am not 
present, you may expect a night letter. I am very much inter¬ 
ested in it, and have done as much perhaps as any one else to 
further the campaign on behalf of Senate bill 3.” 

The editor of Farm News, Springfield, says: 

“If we can be of any assistance, we shall be glad to do so. Of 
course we will undertake to keep it as much as possible before 
the people.” 

The editor of the Farm and Fireside, of Springfield, writes: 

“I believe that the future of agriculture in this country depends 
upon a basic reform in rural schools in the direction of the corre¬ 
lation of the rural schools with rural life. I am therefore 
intensely interested in your letter and in the bill which accom¬ 
panies it, and promise you the active cooperation of Farm and 
Fireside in so far as our space will permit. Personally I think 
the bill would accomplish an educational revolution of the most 
beneficent sort.” 

B. M. Davis, president of the agricultural and rural education 
department of the National Education Association, Oxford, says: 

“lam greatly interested in the provisions of the bill, and have 
been ever since the matter was first started.” 


52 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Dr. W. O. Thompson, president Ohio State University, Columbus, 
made quite extended suggestions as to amendments which he thought 
should be made to the bill as originally introduced, and although lie 
says in a letter to Senator Page “ I am cordially in favor of the prin¬ 
ciples of your bill” he was opposed to some of its features. The 
same can be said as to State School Commissioner Lester S. Ivins, of 
Lebanon. 

The following paragraph is taken from a letter received from him 
and shows his general ideas touching the bill: 

“If you can arrange your bill to give the public high schools 
(not district agricultural schools where they have not been 
established) and the public elementary schools just recognition 
and in every respect on an equal with the agricultural college, 
experiment station, and normal schools we would think a great 
deal more of your bill.” 

Dr. Thompson, however, was appointed by the educational gath¬ 
ering which assembled at Washington, December 14, 15, and 16, as 
one of a committee of seven to revise and suggest amendments to 
the bill, and with some few exceptions the bill as now rewritten re¬ 
ceives his approval. 

OKLAHOMA. 

Gov. Lee Cruce, of Oklahoma, says: 

' T . wish to thank you for copy of Senate bill 3 introduced 
by you. 

“I shall be glad to cooperate in any way possible with the 
State superintendent to bring about proper action along this 
line.” 

ft. H. Wilson, superintendent, department of education, State of 
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, says: 

“I want to say that I can not speak too highly of the Page 
bill. It will certainly be of great assistance to this section of 
the country.” 

J. H. Connell, president Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
Stillwater, says: 

“Oklahoma is earnestly in favor of this bill because with Fed¬ 
eral aid we can quickly reach 5,000 common schools and de¬ 
velop a new agricultural civilization. 

“We are not waiting for the Federal Government, but would 
quickly and largely benefit by the wisely expended assistance 
provided by this measure. 

“Ifavor the immediate passage of the Page bill with some 
minor amendments.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 53 

Grant B. Grumline, president Northwestern State Normal School, 
Alva, says: 

“In the November issue of our monthly bulletin, which goes to 
about 1,800 school-teachers in this part of the State, we are urg¬ 
ing that each of them use their influence for the Page bill, Senate 

James A. Wilson, director Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Stillwater, says: 

“I am sending to-night by Western Union wire a night letter 
expressing as strongly as my vocabulary is able to the position 
which we take in Oklahoma, toward the Page bill. Oklahoma 
stands squarely for the Page bill. Anticipating this nation-wide 
industrial system of education our State constitution directed 
our legislature to provide for such instruction in the common 
schools. Our normal and agricultural high schools are doing the 
grade of work indicated in the Page bill. It provides for our 
greatest need. I wish you the greatest possible success in this 
worthy movement.” 

OREGON. 

W. J. Kerr, president Oregon State Agricultural College, Corvallis, 
says: 

“Your favor of the 4th instant, with inclosures, has just 
reached me. I heartily approve the general purpose of the bill 
as set forth in the resolution adopted by the Senate Committee 
on Agriculture and Forestry.” 

The editor of the Rural Spirit, Portland, says: 

“I most heartily approve of your educational bill, and assure 
you of my appreciation of your efforts along this line, and of 
my willingness to cooperate at any and all times.” 

The editor of the Northwest Poultry Journal, Salem, says: 

“I congratulate you on the bill. It ought to pass.” 

The Rural Spirit and Willamette Farmer, published at Portland 
says: 

“This bill was introduced by Carroll S. Page, has been twice 
read and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. 
It is especially intended to aid agriculture, and is a very merito¬ 
rious bill, and should have the support of farmers through their 
Representatives in Congress.” 


54 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Hon. Oswald West, governor of Oregon, says: 

“Your letter of December 11 and inclosed copy of your Senate 
bill 3, together with data in regard thereto, reached my office dur¬ 
ing my absence in the East. From the hurried view that I have 
been able to give your bill its general provisions meet with my 
approval. I can say as a general proposition that any measure 
which has to do with the betterment and upbuilding of the agri¬ 
cultural school system meets with my approval if drafted along 
sane and consistent lines. 

“I wish you success in this direction.” 

The Pacific Banker, Portland, says: 

“Some time ago it was our pleasure to make brief favorable 
comment upon a bill which one of our active Senators, Page, of 
Vermont, has introduced in the Senate, and which we again wish 
to give editorial indorsement because of its peculiar significance 
to the entire country, and to further encourage, if need be, the 
action of the committees appointed from Oregon, Washington, 
Idaho, and other western States in its behalf. 

“The question which he agitates and which he would thus aid 
and abet is not new. There is no denial of the fact that the 
greatest phase of the problem of maintaining the future pros¬ 
perity of this country lies in the need of our better knowledge, 
and the better knowledge of the generations to come, of the 
science of agriculture. It is eminently fit that the banker should 
lend his influence to the indorsement of Mr. Page’s recommenda¬ 
tion, which has already had the recognition of the Senate, for if 
we are ever going to bring about permanent systems of agricul¬ 
ture in this country the banker above every other business man 
has got to lend unto the endeavor his unfailing energy.” 

The Pacific Banker, Portland, says: 

“Luckily for Mr. Page and the ultimate passage of his bill, 
the question which he agitates and which he would thus aid 
and abet is not new. The need of conserving nature’s gifts to 
man in the forces of the soil, as well as the educating of our 
youth and old men in the way of this thing of greatest importance, 
was recognized years ago by the thinkers of the country, and 
they have been laboring assiduously to awaken our smoldering 
faculties to the great danger of popular indifference to the 
fact, and the inevitable and far-reaching calamity it portends. 
One of these thinkers—and he was a banker—said not long since: 
Tf something isn’t done in this special educational work soon, this 
is not going to be the “Land of the Free,” for it is fast becoming 
the land of ignorance.’ And he went on to say that there is 
no possible question before the American people to-day that 
will anywhere touch in importance to them, as will this question 
of special education along the line of the mechanical industries 
and agriculture.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


55 


PENNSYLVANIA. 

E. E. Powers, secretary of the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Asso¬ 
ciation, Pennsdale, says: 

"We are all rapidly realizing the paramount importance of 
proper educational facilities as the main agent in eliminating the 
serious problems of country life. As the prime mover in bring¬ 
ing this question before the country as a concrete demand, we 
would like to have you speak, if possible, on the subject of the 
Page bill. ? ^ 

P. M. Tyler, principal Chester Agricultural High School, says: 

“Unable to attend conference, but we realize urgent need for 
the Page bill.” 

Hon. John K. Tener, governor of Pennsylvania, says: 

“Your letter of the 11th instant, together with a copy of 
Senate bill 3, is now before me. 

“I have been holding the same, hoping to have the opportu¬ 
nity to read the bill. I have only done so to-day. 

“From a cursory examination of the bill, I can see nothing 
objectionable, and as I understand it, the object has been indorsed 
by the State board of education and the convention of normal 
school principals. It also meets with the ideas, I understand, of 
our superintendent of public instruction, Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer. 

“I sincerely hope the bill may become a law.” 

George M. Philips, secretary State board of education, West Ches¬ 
ter, says: 

“The State board of education of Pennsylvania strongly in¬ 
dorses this movement and Senator Page’s bill, and at its direc¬ 
tion I sent a letter, as secretary of the board, to every Senator 
and Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania. This was 
very favorably received. Senator Penrose and a number of 
others promised to support the bill, and the others promised it 
careful consideration. I very much hope that this measure will 
pass this winter. You will get valuable and important support 
from Pennsylvania.” 

Andrew Thomas Smith, principal State normal school, Mansfield, 
says : 

“I write to add my word of encouragement and to express the 
hope that the measure may be passed through Congress at this 
session. 

“It is a bill which will lend very great aid to a measure now 
occupying the chief place of attention among the educators of 
our country.” 


56 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


Mrs. L. L. Blankenburg, vice president General Federation of 
Women’s Clubs, Philadelphia, writes: 

“ Senator Page, you recognize the fact that women are not 
your constituents, except in six of the Western States and that 
our wishes do not have much weight with Congress, but if there 
is sufficient publicity given to this bill I believe club women 
will use such influence as they can command to secure its 
passage.” 

Thomas F. Hunt, Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture, says: 

“For a number of years I have been deeply interested in the 
movement for the introduction of industrial training in the 
secondary schools of this country as expressed in your bill. I 
believe it to be one of the most far-reaching movements for the 
progress of this country that has been before Congress in many 
years.” 

The editor of the Tobacco World of Philadelphia says: 

“Have given the bill hearty indorsement in editorial.” 

The Times, McKeesport, says: 

“A conference on Senator Page’s vocational bill is to be held 
in Washington, beginning with to-morrow. This measure is 
intended to provide a course of studies for the rising genera¬ 
tion which is not now afforded in all of the public schools, and 
if the bill goes through Congress and becomes a national law 
its results should be very beneficial. This bill as an educa¬ 
tional idea far transcends in importance all the political sparring 
of the session just opened, for it reaches down to the child upon 
whose life and efficiency national life and efficiency depend. 

“The purpose of Senator Page’s bill is to add vocational studies 
to our public-school system. It follows closely upon the idea 
of Senator Justin Morrill, precessor of Senator Carroll S. Page, 
of Vermont. Former Senator Morrill was the father of the 
so-called land-grant act of 1862 , establishing the State colleges 
of agriculture and mechanic arts, and Senator Page’s bill is 
intended to carry down to the secondary schools industrial 
education which Senator Morrill’s bill created in State agri¬ 
cultural and mechanical schools. 

tl Combining all of the features of the bill, it can be said to 
be a unified movement to have the Government aid in adding 
vocational work in the public schools throughout the States. 
The bill should interest every father and mother and every 
employer who wish our schools to prepare young people more 
especially for definite profitable work. It should meet with 
almost universal indorsement throughout the entire country, as 
it is a good measure tending in the right direction.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


57 


Wiliner Atkinson, editor Farm Journal, Philadelphia, says: 

“I have your esteemed favor of the 20th. We shall do what 
we can for the Page bill, but we have many, many things to do 
for. I am glad the educators who met in Washington have 
indorsed your bill and will work for it. • 

“Your bill commends itself to my judgment. While tech¬ 
nical schools have been educating coordinately the hand and 
brain of the favored few of the land, the great mass of our youth 
are forced to begin the battle of life, clumsily equipped for the 
struggle. Nowhere is technical training more urgently needed 
than on the farm and in the household. The demand of the 
time is for scientific efficiency, and this is the only lever that can 
lift agriculture to its rightful place. 

“The National Government can not spend money for a better 
purpose than in providing every normal boy and girl in the land 
with a fair and equal chance. A nation of efficient workers is a 
nation committed to universal peace and world-wide prosperity. 
The bill is a reform and I hope that it will come quickly.” 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Mr. E. E. Balcomb, of the Rhode Island Normal School and secre¬ 
tary of the National Education Association, department of rural 
and agricultural education, and secretary of the national committee 
on agricultural education, writes: 

“Was very glad to get your letter and to note that you are 
not afraid to put yourself on record in favor of education as 
against battleships. Our committee hopes to carry on an exten¬ 
sive campaign favoring this bill.” 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

D. B. Johnson, president of the Southern Educational Association, 
and of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rockhill, says: 

“The condition of rural delivery can be improved best and 
more surely by relating the work of rural schools to the life of 
the people served by them. To do this, elementary agriculture, 
home economics, and such practical subjects must be taught in 
the rural schools. 

“The interests of the agricultural classes demand the passage 
of this bill. 

“I have just returned from Houston, Tex., where the annual 
meeting of the Southern Educational Association was held and 
where I wrote and presented the resolutions which were adopted 
by the association. One of those resolutions indorsed the Page 
bill. I thought you would be glad to have this resolution, and I 
inclose you a copy. 

“The Southern Educational Association was attended by 
representatives of all the educational interests of all the Southern 
States, and the resolution indorsing the Page bill ought to have 
some effect with southern Congressmen. 


58 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


“ I have been working for your bill as a member of the national 
committee on agricultural education, and you may count on me to 
do everything in my power to push the passage of the Page bill.” 

E. J. Watson, commissioner of the department of agriculture, com¬ 
merce and industries, Columbia, says: 

“1 am in receipt of yours of December 7, inviting me to person¬ 
ally attend or send a representative to Washington to attend the 
conference on the Page bill. I regret that absence from the State 
prevented my receiving your letter in time even to send the night 
letter requested. 

“I wish to assure you that this has been in no measure due to 
any lack of interest in this important matter, for there is no more 
earnest advocate on secondary agricultural and industrial educa¬ 
tion to be found in the country than myself. In the future, if 
there is anything I can do in this or any other matter of equal 
importance to the South, I trust you will not hesitate to call 
upon me.” 

J. E. Swearingen, State superintendent of education, Columbia: 

“ Senate bill 3 can do South Carolina no earthly harm. If it 
could be amended in some important particulars, I believe its 
provisions would secure better and more desirable results; but 
rather than see the measure fail I should be glad to see it enacted 
at the present session of Congress.” 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

C. G. Lawrence, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Pierre, says: 

“ Regret my inability to be present at meeting December 14; 
am in hearty accord with the general principles of Page bill, 
and shall do all in my power to help secure its enactment. Such 
a law will meet with general favor in this State.” 

J. H. Hetley, county superintendent of schools, Webster, says: 

“The Page bill is good from my point of view. It will build up 
an immense corps of suggestive supervisors for the whole country. 
It will stimulate the agricultural movement and at the same time 
furnish some sane restraints upon the expenditure of public 
moneys.” 

TENNESSEE. 

Dr. P. P. Claxton, until recently connected with the department of 
education in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, but who has 
recently been appointed commissioner of education, says: 

“Your letter of June 26, inclosing copy of Senate bill 3, has 
been received. With the general outline of the bill I am in most 
hearty sympathy, and hope some law of this kind may soon be 
enacted by Congress.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


59 


The editor of the Progressive Teacher, Nashville, says: 

“I am ready and anxious to cooperate with you heartily and 
in every way possible.’’ 

TEXAS. 

Mr. A. Caswell Ellis, professor philosophy of education, division 
department extension, Austin, says: 

“A copy of your bill on agricultural education, together with 
your letter, was handed to me by Prof. Sutton, on account of the 
fact that I have been especially interested in this matter both 
here and abroad. 

“Let me express my very heartiest commendation of this bill. 
I wish especially to commend the encouragement of agricultural 
and industrial education in our normal schools, so that we have 
a supply of teachers in our regular schools who are competent to 
teach these subjects and are in sympathy with them. 

“Really, the success or the failure of the secondary agricultural 
education rests upon the training and character of men who teach 
this subject. 

“I wish also to especially commend that feature in your bill 
which allows either special agricultural high schools or regular 
high schools with properly organized agricultural departments 
to secure the benefit of this appropriation. 

“I feel that I should apologize for intruding so much upon 
your attention, but the matter is one that greatly interests me 
and upon which I have done a great deal of work.” 

The editor of Farm and Ranch, Dallas, says: 

“It is a most excellent measure and one that is designed to 
stimulate education in behalf of the farms and those who most 
need this practical information.” 

The editor of the Texas Stockman and Farmer, San Antonio, writes: 

“ Copy of your bill with view to promoting a better system of 
education along agricultural lines received. We will do all we 
can to aid you.” 

The Daily Texas Live Stock Reporter says: 

“This letter of Senator Page’s is given because the importance 
of the subject commends it to the consideration of the people. 
We spend millions of dollars in teaching our children things that 
are of no practical value to them in the struggle for existence. 
We call them to do work that we give them no training for 
doing; we demand the tale of brick but we furnish no straw. 
Efficiency is value to the worker and to the Nation. The youth 
who goes out of school with a trained mind and hand is equipped 
for the battle that all must fight before success can be achieved. 
The money that is wasted in years of instruction in branches of 


60 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


learning that profits nothing because it is never applied would, 
if spent in teaching our children how to do things and the phi¬ 
losophy of practical affairs, count in making them more valuable 
as citizens and making us as a nation more forceful in the affairs 
of the world. Senator Page’s plan is the beginning of a change 
for the better that deserves the approval of all thoughtful men.” 

F. M. Bralley, State superintendent of education, Austin, says: 

“I have read Senate bill No. 3, recently received from you, 
and wish to say that the enactment of said bill into law would 
be of incalculable value to the educational interests of Texas 
and the entire country. I therefore heartily indorse, the bill 
§nd express the hope that it will be given the support of every 
intelligent, patriotic Member of the United States Congress.” 

UTAH. 

W. M. Stewart, principal of the State Normal School, Salt Lake 
City, says: 

“Our objection primarily is to the establishment of district 
agricultural schools of secondary grade and not to the other pro¬ 
visions of the bill. We believe strongly in industrial and voca¬ 
tional subjects as a part of the curriculum of the high school, but 
we think that the establishment of State district agricultural 
schools of secondary grade would be detrimental to our already 
established high schools. If this clause which provides for 
separate agricultural schools and experiment stations were elimi¬ 
nated, the bill would meet with our approval.” 

Note. —The views of Principal Stewart have been met by the elimi¬ 
nation of that part of the bill which provides for separate experiment 
stations, but the provisions for district agricultural schools of second¬ 
ary grade is regarded as so all-important to the cause of agricultural 
education that it has been continued in the bill, notwithstanding the 
protest of Principal Stewart. 

VERMONT. 

Hon. John A. Mead, governor of Vermont, says: 

“I have felt keenly for many years that in Vermont at least 
there was a great demand for increased facilities along agricul¬ 
tural and educational lines, and the conditions of said bill will 
afford the desired relief and where it is most needed. 

“My contention has been that the prosperity of our Nation 
more largely depends upon intelligent development of industrial 
agricultural life than to any other cause. Nature has been prodi¬ 
gal in her gifts to our State and Nation, and shall we exercise that 
industry and knowledge which will permit us to reap the bounty 
which has been placed at our door ? 

“You are worldng along the right lines, and may your success 
equal your fondest anticipations.” 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 61 

Mason S. Stone, State superintendent of education, Montpelier, 
says: 

“As a financial measure it will be a wealth producer, as it will 
produce wealth producers. 

“As an economic measure, it will eliminate waste through mis¬ 
fit service and greatly increase the efficiency of each successive 
generation. 

“As a just measure, it will afford equality of opportunity to a 
million of boys by enabling each to.discover the thing he can do 
best, and by training him to do that thing the best he can. 

“As an educational measure, it will neutralize the traditional 
and bookish education of the present and will train pupils to 
think, to do, to be. 

“As a civic measure, it will greatly enhance the Nation’s gen¬ 
eral intelligence, which is the guaranty of the Nation’s peace, 
permanence, and prosperity. 

t “As a moral measure, it will produce individual industry and 
contentment, community cooperation and harmony, and national 
integrity and righteousness. 

“It is the most important bill for the development of the agri¬ 
cultural resources of the country that has ever been introduced 
since the Morrill bill.” 

Martin G. Benedict, principal St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johns- 
bury, says: 

“The Page bill, a bill to cooperate with the States in encour¬ 
aging instruction in agriculture, the trades, industries, home 
economics, etc., has received my careful attention. I fully and 
enthusiastically indorse its provisions and urge our Representa¬ 
tives in Congress to do their utmost to secure its passage.” 

The New England Farmer, Montpelier, says: 

“Senator Page’s bill is one of tremendous and far-reaching 
importance to the people of this country. Its enactment will 
open the door of opportunity for tens of thousands of American 
boys. 

“We need to make our educational system more practical. 
This does not mean that we are to cut out the essential features 
that form the foundation of our educational system, but it does 
mean that we ought to provide a system of study that will help our 
boys and girls to a greater degree to go forth and earn their own 
living. It is no secret that there have been a good many studies 
that have been of little practical benefit to the student and have 
been forgotten almost as soon as the textbooks were closed and 
packed away. 

“ Battleships and standing armies are not the only means of 
protection for a nation. Danger from a foreign foe is a remote 
possibility. Danger from ignorance, inefficiency, and poverty 
is an ever-present peril. The foes of our own household are to 
be dreaded more than any possible invasion from overseas. If 
every year we fit several million bo} f s and girls by the study of 


62 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


manual training, scientific agriculture, and domestic science we 
increase the wealth of the Nation by untold millions of dollars, 
because we make possible the earning of larger wages, the win¬ 
ning of greater profits, and the more economic expenditure of 
the earnings of the man who works with his hands. By increas¬ 
ing the possibility of securing more of the comforts of life we 
reduce thereby the army of the discontented, we lessen the num¬ 
ber of misfits in our economic “system, and we make our country 
a safer and a better place in which to dwell.” 

C. H. Spooner, president of Norwich University, Northfield, says: 

“I have given the bill a first reading. It does ‘look good' to 
me. May success attend you.” 

G. L. Green, principal Vermont State School of Agriculture, Ran¬ 
dolph Center, says: 

“I am unable to be present at the conference concerning the 
passage of the Page bill, but I need not tell you that I am vitally 
interested in its passage. 

“This first Vermont State School of Agriculture is located in 
the home county of the late Senator Justin S. Morrill, father of 
agricultural education in the United States. Our school main¬ 
tains a two-year course which is intended to fit the farm boy for 
practical and intelligent farming. We are filling a gap between 
the high school and college. For the first time, the farmers of 
the State have a school of secondary grade, established prima¬ 
rily for their benefit. 

“The appropriation which we have for the present year’s 
use is far too small to establish our plant and provide even the 
beginnings of an equipment. Schools of this kind everywhere 
can not obtain State aid adequate to their needs, and any bill 
which Congress may pass which will help the cause along will be 
a great blessing to the Nation. May the Page bill speedily 
become an act.” 

Mr. Edward S. Abbott, principal Montpelier High School, Mont¬ 
pelier, says: 

“I have read with much interest the bill introduced by you 
in the Senate. It seems to me that it contains the elements of 
a mighty service to the Nation, in no wav second to the Mor¬ 
rill law.” 

A. S. Harriman, principal Middlebury High School, Middlebury, 
says: 


“I have carefully read the copy of bill introduced bv you, and 
cordially approve of a bill so wide in its scope and so salutary 
in its provisions for the welfare of industrial training throughout 
our country.” 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 63 

The following resolutions were adopted by the Vermont State 
Grange at its annual session December 12, 1911. 

“Whereas a safe, sure, and sound development of the country 
industrially, educationally, and morally needs impulse and en¬ 
couragement, and 

“Whereas the agricultural conditions of the country are rap¬ 
idly approaching a state demanding a greater knowledge and 
an intensive application of the science of agriculture on account 
of the occupation of nearly all available land and the constant 
increase in population: Therefore 

“Be it resolved by the State Grange of Vermont, in its fortieth 
annual meeting, that we heartily indorse the vocational measure 
before Congress, with such modifications or amendments as will 
adjust it to various vocations, and urge its passage.” 

Montpelier Morning Journal, Montpelier, says: 

“If the price of one battleship put into Senator Page's states¬ 
manlike policy would help to educate more than 5,000,000 boys 
for lives of greater usefulness and independence than they could 
obtain otherwise, or train an equal number of girls to make 
healthier and happier homes, is any person prepared to say that 
the money would not be invested more economically than in 
the construction of a ship of war?” 

VIRGINIA. 

H. F. Button, director Manassas Agricultural High School, Ma¬ 
nassas, says: 

“I wish you all speed with the Page vocational school bill. 
We have conducted an agricultural school here four years with 
such success that 200 farmers testify to its value. We can not 
continue to grow without more money. The State can not 
support us; Congress can and should.” 

J. D. Eggleston, jr., superintendent of public instruction of Vir¬ 
ginia, says: 

“This measure has been discussed by leading farmers and 
educators throughout the State of Virginia, and I am in position 
to know that the sentiment for it is very strong. My oppor¬ 
tunities for observation have been unusually good, and I am safe 
in saying that were this measure put to a vote of our people it 
would be favored by an overwhelming majority.” 

President Alderman, of the University of Virginia, says: 

“You may give the name democracy to anything—a mode of 
living, a manner of speaking, a group of men, a dollar dinner— 
but the thing itself is plainly a spirit, a faith, a religion, whose 
chiefest commandment is: ‘ You can trust men if you will train 
them.’ ” 


64 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


WASHINGTON. 

O. L. Waller, vice president of the State College of Washington, 
Pullman, says: 

“ We are very much in hopes that before Congress adjourns 
some good bill providing for actual demonstration to the farmers 
and sons of farmers will be enacted into law. We have at this 
institution calls for men to do this kind of work that are far 
beyond the means we have to take care of such calls. We have 
not appropriation enough at present to either employ the men or 
provide the equipment for such work to meet such demands. I 
shall prepare to write you at a later date concerning Senate bill 
3, and shall seek an opportunity to look it over more carefully. 
But vou may be very sure that we are greatly interested in some 
legislation looking to actual* services along the line of better 
farming conditions.” 

Henry B. Dewey, State superintendent of public instruction, 
Olympia, says: 

“I have very carefully examined Senate bill 3 and wish to give 
it my unqualified indorsement in every particular. I hope that 
the bill will pass substantially as printed without material 
amendment. It means more, m my judgment, for the youth 
of this country than any other bill now pending in Congress. 
It is the first definite step toward a redirect education.” 

J. D. Dean, editor the Ranch, Kent, says: 

“ There is just one weak feature apparent to me in your bill 
and that is we will have schools established with incompetent 
instructors. I think the realization of the American people of 
the needs such as you provide for is growing faster than teachers 
can be provided. Right in our own State I know of several 
high schools that would be willing to employ a competent agri¬ 
culturist if one could be had, but it is mighty hard to find 
capable teachers, and as for the necessary instruction for breed¬ 
ing and caring for live stock, teachers are practically unknown. 

•“By your bill I fear we will establish schools faster than 
proper teachers can be supplied. However, you may count on 
me to assist in the passing of this law, as I believe it is the best 
measure affecting the whole Nation ever enacted. 

Mr. C. A. Tonneson, editor Northwest Horticulturist, Tacoma, says: 

“ Your kind favor of recent date and copy of your bill was duly 
received in time for comment in our August issue. The measure 
you propose is along the lines we have been agitating for several 
years past, and therefore will be glad to cooperate with you in 
an endeavor to get final action on this bill. 

“The Horticulturist believes a measure of this kind enacted 
would help solve some of the perplexing problems of the day. 
Theory and speculation have been rampant in this country. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


65 


Early training industrially will continue to make us strong in 
all the noble qualities for which the American Nation became 
noted a generation ago.” 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

Thomas E. Hodges, president West Virginia University, Morgan¬ 
town, says: 

“ Yours of December 4, addressed to the State Agricultural 
College, Charleston, has come to me. 

“I most heartily approve the general purposes of Senate bill 
3, a copy of which accompanied your letter. 

“The Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations, at its recent meeting at Columbus, Ohio, gave their 
indorsement to the general proposition for Federal aid for instruc¬ 
tion in agriculture and mechanical arts and domestic science 
in secondary schools and for Federal aid to the State colleges 
of agriculture for extension. 

“I was not present at this meeting, but this instruction was 

g resen ted by Dean E. D. Sanderson, of our college of agriculture. 

te reports that he is in thorough harmony with the resolutions 
adopted at the meeting, and in behalf of West Virginia Uni¬ 
versity I am glad to give our most hearty concurrence.” 

M. P. Shawley, State superintendent of public instruction, Charles¬ 
ton, says: 

“I have studied quite carefully Senate bill 3 and find myself 
unable to improve upon its contents. If you wish to add my 
opinion to the long list which you have published, you may use 
the following: 

“West Virginia is just now entering upon a determined cam¬ 
paign for bringing it into its own industrially, and especially agri¬ 
culturally. We find the financial burden of such a project is 
somewhat embarrassing, and that Senate bill 3 will extend to us 
the strong hand of the Government. I most heartily indorse 
the bill and believe that its passage will prove to be a master¬ 
stroke of legislation. 

“Our State supervisor of high schools, Prof. L. L. Friend, is 
much interested in this measure, and is writing you his opinion, 
which you are at liberty to use if you so desire. 

“I am willing to give such attention to bringing proper 
influence to bear from this State, and shall be glad to have your 
suggestions as to the most effective means to use. I shall take 
the matter up with the West Virginia Representatives in 
Congress.” 

Mr. Thomas C. Miller, principal Shepherd College State Normal 
School, Shepherdstown, says: 

“ I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 5th, to¬ 
gether with a copy of Senate bill 3, which you have introduced 

S. Kept. 405, 62-2-5 


66 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


in That body. I give it my most hearty approval. As a 
member of the national agricultural executive committee, I shall 
be glad to do anything I can to further the measure and should 
be glad to come to Washington at any time I can be of any 
assistance.” 

L. L. Friend, supervisor of high schools, Charleston, says: 

“I have been watching with much interest the fortunes in 
Congress of the Page bill, providing for the appropriation by the 
Federal Government of funds to promote the teaching of agri¬ 
culture in high schools and normal schools. The most impor¬ 
tant educational movement now in progress in this country is 
the movement for the betterment of rural education. The Page 
bill, if passed, will prove of incalculable benefit to this move¬ 
ment.” 

The Dispatch News, Parkersburg, in speaking of Senate bill 3, says: 

“This bill would mean much to West Virginia where the appro¬ 
priation for school purposes has not been large and where from 
$30,000 to $50,000 a year would prove of wonderful help. The 
West Virginia Representatives in Congress will be urged to 
give the measure their hearty support.” 

WISCONSIN. 

Duncan McGregor, private secretary of Gov. McGovern, of Wis¬ 
consin, says: 

“I am directed b}^ Gov. McGovern to express to you his un¬ 
qualified approval of the purpose of bill 3, Sixty-second Congress, 
first session, introduced by yourself on April 6, 1911.” 

Charles McKenny, president State Normal School, Milwaukee, says: 

“I have your letter of December 7 inviting me to a conference 
December 14, 15, 16, at Washington, D. C., to consider the Page 
bill (S. 3). I regret that previous engagements prevent my being 
present at the conference. I want to say that 1 am in sympathy 
with the general provisions of the Page bill.” 

Mr. A. A. Johnson, superintendent Milwaukee County School of 
Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Wauwatosa, says: 

“I am very much interested in the bill you have introduced 
contemplating Federal aid for secondary agricultural education 
in the various States. Will you kindly send me a copy of the 
bill? I hope it will pass.” 

The editor of the Butter, Cheese, and Egg Journal, Milwaukee, says: 

“We fully appreciate the importance of greater educational 
interest along agricultural and home economic lines, and we shall 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


67 


endeavor to aid the cause to the best of our ability. We assure 
you of our hearty support.” 

John F. Sims, State Normal School, says: 

“This measure, in my opinion, is a most desirable one for the 
whole country, as the questions involved are the most important 
in present-day needs. The bill, if made law, will stimulate the 
scientific study of agriculture, make the farm more attractive 
and more profitable, and encourage a wholesome move back to 
the country.” 

Henry E. Miles, chairman of the committee on industrial education 
of the National Association of Manufacturers, says: 

“The present common-school system is cultural; practical 
matters are no part of its aim, nor can they be made a part. 
Less than one-half of our children go beyond the sixth grade; 
only 1 in 3 completes the grammar school course; only 1 in 5 
enters the high school; only 1 in 30 graduates from the high 
school. Taken as a whole, it is comparable to a transoceanic 
liner, half of whose passengers drop out midway and only one- 
thirtieth of whom reach the port of destination. Half of the 
children leave school at the age of 14. The Wisconsin Bureau 
of Labor, in its report for 1910, declares that only 12 per cent of 
the children employed under 16 years of age are in positions 
where they can learn a trade. In Germany every boy, even to the 
sons of the Emperor, must learn a trade. The nations most pro¬ 
gressive in industrial education are probably Germany, Austria, 
Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Sweden. 

“Germany apparently prefers that the great body of her 
children shall enter the industries at the age of 14. The point is 
that Germany goes into the industry with the child; the hand 
of the child is kept within the hand of the State. The school 
to which he goes is called the continuation school, for in this 
school his education is continued. In the continuation school 
only the science and art of the trade is taught. The child there 
learns the relations of his particular factory task to the whole of 
his industry. He is taught scientifically the higher reaches of 
his industry, and up to the limit of his ability is made an ac¬ 
complished and scientific factor in his industry. 

“Love of work comes of efficiency in work. We like to do 
what we can do well. 

“In the schools of Germany they take pride in the claim that 
their schools teach not only trades, but they teach duty, re¬ 
sponsibility, discipline, work, order, and method. 

“In Germany every trade is taught. In Munich, for instance, 
at very little expense and with marvelous efficiency, 47 trades 
are taught, including printing, lithographing, photography, 
stucco and ornamental sculpture, tinsmith, wigmaker,. baker, 
hotel keeper (including hotel carving), wood carver, jeweler, 
merchant (including buying and selling), confectioner, pastry 
cook, butcher, tailor, clerk and office assistant, druggist, glazier, 


68 


VOCATIQNAL EDUCATION. 


coachman, saddler, trunk maker, cooper, upholsterer, potter, 
stovemaker, wheelwright, and watchmaker. 

“Germany in the last 40 years has come from the position of 
an extremely poor country to an exceedingly rich one. She now 
annually invests abroad $1,000,000,000 of her surplus capital 
after providing for the constant and great extension of her 
domestic interests. Last year she brought in from beyond her 
borders 1,000,000 operatives to assist in her factories her own 
happy, efficient army of industrial workers.” 

A. A. Johnson, principal La Crosse School of Agriculture and Domes¬ 
tic Economy at Onalaska, says: 

“I feel that your bill, as I understand it, will be a great aid to 
the development of the agricultural resources throughout the 
United States.” 

Prof. Ely, of Wisconsin, declares: 

“Industrial education, not for the few but for all people, for 
every boy and girl bom in the United States, without one excep¬ 
tion, is the chief economic demand of our times. 

“Comparatively little is attained by picking a few here and 
there and elevating them above the masses by technical schools. 
We want to extend the benefit of industrial schools to all alike.” 

H. L. Russell, dean of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, says: 

“I have yours of the 4th instant and also a copy of the Senate 
bill 3. I am writing you to acknowledge receipt of same, which 
came in my absence, and would say that I expect to be in Wash¬ 
ington with the executive committee of the Association of Ameri¬ 
can Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations on Friday of 
this week, at which time matters relating to these bills will be 
taken up. 

“There is no question of the need of vocational educational 
legislation, and I am heartily in favor of the proposition being 
pushed when it is evident that it is the right time to do it.” 

Note. —It is only fair to say that Dean Russell is opposed to some 
of the features of Senate bill 3 and so expressed himself at the meeting 
referred to in his letter, from which the above quotation is made. 

T. S. Southgate, Milwaukee, says: 

“Hope commercial congress will aid every possible way intro¬ 
duction and passage of Page vocational bill.” 


[S. 3, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] 

A BILL To cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the 
trades and industries, and home economics in secondary schools; in maintaining 
instruction in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in maintaining 
extension departments in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; and to 
appropriate money and regulate its expenditure. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be, 
and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, to be paid as hereinafter provided to the 
respective States a ed - T e rri t orie s and the District of Columbia, and 
to the departments named herein, for instruction in agriculture, 
the trades, and industries, and home economics, and for agricultural 
e x p e rimentation tests and demonstrations the several sums as pro¬ 
vided in the following sections: Provided, That the States and - T e rr i¬ 
tories accepting the provisions of this Act shall receive for the respec¬ 
tive lines of education and research development only such portions 
of the full amount to which each State and-Territery would be 
entitled, of the respective funds to be used for the purpose of this 
Act, as in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior it has made 
ample preparation to utilize to advantage, and such funds as would 
otherwise be allotted to the respective States, but. as are not by 
him authorized to be used, shall remain in the Treasury: And pro¬ 
vided, That the terms secondary schools, or schools of secondary grade , 
or high schools, as used in this Act shall mean schools offering courses 
in advance of the elementary schools and lower in grade than collegiate 
courses in the respective States. 

For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and industries, 
home economics, and agriculture in public schools of secondary grade 
the sum of five million dollars, beginning with the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fif t e e n sixteen, and annually 
thereafter, to be allotted to the States— 1 Territories^- and the District of 
Columbia in proportion to the school population between the ages of 
five and twenty, inclusive, as shall be determined by the next preceding 
Federal census o f - i d n eteen-hundred-aud-ten 

For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home 
economics in State district agricultural schools of secondary grade, 
as herein provided in section two of this Act, the sum of four million 
dollars, for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and 
fifteen sixteen, and annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States 
anei-q^FFiteries in proportion to the number of persons engaged in 
agricultural pursuits as shall be shown by the next preceding Federal 
census ef-n inet een-hundred-and-ten: Provided, That for each State 
and Te rritory with less than one hundred thousand people engaged 
in agriculture there is hereby appropriated for these State district 
secondary agricultural high schools the additional sum of five thousand 
dollars annually. # „ 

For the maintenance of branch agricultural- e x p eriment field test 
and breeding stations, to be designated in this Act as branch stations, to 

69 



70 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


be located at the agricultural high schools provided for in this Act, 
and to be administered as parts of the respective State experiment 
stations now established in the respective States an d - T e r rito r ie s , in 
accordance with the Act of Congress approved March second, eighteen 
hundred and eighty-seven, the sum of one million dollars for the fiscal 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen sixteen , and 
annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States and- T e rrit ories in 
proportion to the number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits 
as shall be shown by the next preceding Federal census of - ninete e n 
hnndred- and - te n: Provided, That in each State and-Territery with 
less than one hundred thousand people engaged in agriculture there is 
hereby appropriated for these branch experi m ent stations the addi¬ 
tional sum of two thousand five hundred dollars annually: Provided 
further, That no State er-Territery shall be entitled to its allotment 
for branch e x per iment station work until its legislature shall, by law, 
have provided for the annual maintenance of such branch stations a 
sum at least equal to that allotted annually for this purpose to the 
State er- T erritory under this Act; and the sum paid to each State er 
■ Territory for branch e x per iment stations shall be applied only to 
paying the necessary expenses of conducting, by' such branch experi - 
ment stations, e x perime nts field tests, animal and plant breeding, and 
other scientific work bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the 
United States, having due regard for the varying conditions and 
needs of the respective States and- T er-riferies. 

For the maintenance in each State college of agriculture and the 
mechanic arts established under the provisions of an Act of Congress 
approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, of an exten¬ 
sion department devoted to giving instruction and demonstration in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, home economics, and rural 
affairs to persons not resident at these colleges, nor at the secondary 
and normal schools provided for in this Act, the sum of five hundred 
thousand dollars for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and thirteen, and annually thereafter: Provided, That 
annually ten thousand dollars of this sum shall be allotted to each of 
the forty-eight States and-Territerios and twenty thousand dollars to 
the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department of Agriculture: 
And provided, That the additional sum of two three hundred thousand 
dollars shall be, and'hereby is, appropriated for the year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fourteen; the additional sum of feu? 
six hundred thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nine¬ 
teen hundred and fifteen; the additional sum of six nine hundred 
thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth nineteen hundred 
and sixteen; the additional sum of eight one million two hundred 
thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and seventeen; the additional sum of one million five hundred thousand 
dollars for the year ending June thirtieth nineteen hundred and 
eighteen; the additional sum of one million eight hundred thousand 
dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen; 
the additional sum of two million one hundred thousand dollars for the 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty; and the addi¬ 
tional sum of two million four hundred thousand dollars for the year 
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and annually 
thereafter; these additional sums to be allotted annually to the States 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


71 


cmd-Territeries in proportion to their population engaged in agricul¬ 
ture as shall be determined by the next preceding Federal census el 
nieeteen-hundred-and-ten: Provided, That no State shall.be entitled 
to any part or all of its allotment of these additional sums until its 
legislature shall by law provide for the establishment of an agricul¬ 
tural extension department or division in its college of agriculture and 
mechanic arts, and shall have provided as an appropriation for that 
work an amount at least equal to the additional amount annually 
allotted to the State for that purpose under this Act-;—Pro v ide d ^- 

Thof — c nihi n/if P /\ d 
TT IT' t Htx XJks u 



ment-o f a gr iculture: And provided, That the Department Secretary 
of Agriculture shall submit to Congress annually a report on exten¬ 
sion work as provided for in this Act. 

For the preparation of persons to serve as teachers of the vocations 
of agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics, the sum of 
four hundred eighty thousand dollars annually, to be used under plans 
approved by the Secretary of the Interior in departments or divisions 
of education in the State colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts of 
the respective States established under the Act of Congress approved July 
second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the Acts supplementary 
thereto, the sum of ten thousand dollars for the year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and thirteen, and annually thereafter. 

For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture, the trades and 
industries, and home economics in State and-- Ter ritorial normal 
schools, the sum of one million dollars annually, commencing with the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and 
annually thereafter, to be allotted to the States and - T e r ritories and 
the District of Columbia in proportion to the school population 
beween the ages of five and twenty, inclusive, as shall be determined by 
the next preceding Federal census ePni n e t een-handred-and-ten: Pro¬ 
vided, That in each State and-Territory with less than three hundred 
thousand inhabitants there is hereby appropriated for normal-school 
instruction as herein provided the additional sum of three thousand 
dollars annually. 

The sum of thirty forty thousand dollars annually, to be expended, 
under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in paying neces¬ 
sary expenses of administering this Act; in paying the expenses of 
cooperating with the respective departments and States and-Terri- 
te r ies designated in this Act; in developing the schools and courses 
of study provided for in this Act; in paying the expenses of preparing 
the reports provided for in this Act. 

The sum of twenty fifteen thousand dollars annually, to.be ex¬ 
pended, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 
m cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior and the respective 
States *md-Territerie9, in paying necessary expenses in administering 
this Act with reference to instruction and investigations in agriculture 
and home economics provided for in this Act; and the Secretary of 
Agriculture is hereby authorized to give the schools and branch 
exper i m ent stations designated in this Act such advice and assistance 
as will best aid them in carrying out the provisions of this Act in its 
relations to mstrnetien-and-rese-treh-in agriculture, home economics, 
and rural affairs, and to issue reports thereon. 



72 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


The sum of t w -e n ty fifteen thousand dollars annually, to be ex¬ 
pended under the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, acting in 
cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior, and the respective 
States a nd -Territerfes, in paying the necessary expenses of the ad¬ 
ministration of this Act with reference to instruetien-aed investigati o n 
in the trades and industries provided for in this Act; and the Secretary 
of Commerce and Labor is hereby authorized to give cooperate with 
the Secretary of the Interior in giving to the schools designated in this 
Act such advice and assistance as will best aid them in carrying out 
the provisions of this Act in its relations to mstrue fei o n - an d- r esearch 
in the trades and industries and t o issu e in preparing reports thereon. 

Sec. 2. That each State ad d - Te rritory, in order to secure the 
benefits of this Act, shall accept its provisions and shall divide the 
State an d - Ter ritory into districts, providing in each district for one 
secondary agricultural school and in connection therewith, a branch 
ex p e rime nt station, the total number of such districts in a given 
State o r -T er ritory to be not less than one for each fifteen counties 
nor more than one for each five counties and fraction of five coun 
ties; and shall enact laws providing for the allotment of the respec 
tive funds herein appropriated to the respective schools to which it 
may choose to allot funds under the provisions of this Act, and 
shall provide for the proper administration of the respective funds 
herein appropriated: Provided, That any State may accept any one or 
more of the respective funds herein appropriated to it, and may defer 
the acceptance of any one or more of such funds, and shall be required 
to meet only those conditions imposed in relation to those funds which 
it has accepted. 



Sec 4t 3. That in case the legislature of any State er-Territery has 
not been in session to comply with the terms of this Act the gov¬ 
ernor, acting for the State er-Territery, may accept the provisions 
of this Act in its relation to the preparation of teachers of the voca¬ 
tional subjects herein provided for in State colleges of agriculture and, 
the mechanic arts, and in State normal schools, and in relation to the 
determinate appropriation of ten thousand dollars for each State er 
Territory for college extension work pending the convening of the 
legislature. 

Sec. 6 Jj. That the funds appropriated in this Act for instruction in 
agricultural secondary agricultural schools in the respective districts 
provided for in this Act shall be used only for distinctive studies in 
agriculture and home economics; the funds appropriated for instruc¬ 
tion in public secondary schools shall be used only for distinctive 
instruction in the trades and industries, home economics, and agri¬ 
culture, in separate schools organized for that purpose, or in separate 
units or courses organized as departments or divisions under a properly 
qualified head in regular secondary schools; the funds appropriated for 
the preparation of teachers by State colleges of agriculture and the mechanic 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


73 


arts shall be used by departments or divisions of education in these colleges 
in the preparation of teachers to instruct in agriculture , the trades and 
industries, and home economics; the funds appropriated for instruction 
in State an d - Tcr riteriai normal schools shall be used only for dis¬ 
tinctive studies in agriculture, home economics, and the trades and 
industries in separate units and courses organized as departments or 
divisions under a properly qualified head; the funds appropriated for 
college-extension departments or divisions shall be used only for 
instruction and demonstrations in agriculture, home economics, and 
rural affairs, and the funds appropriated for branch stations shall be used 
only under plans approved by the directors of the State experiment stations 
of the respective States: Provided, That shorter courses shall be in¬ 
cluded in the respective secondary schools for persons permanently 
engaged in or experienced in agricultural, industiial, or home-making 
vocations; and continuation courses shall be included for persons not 
necessarily graduated from elementaiy schools who need opportuni¬ 
ties offered by short or night vocational courses in the trades and 
industries or in heme making or in agriculture, and instruction in these 
subjects may be given in the upper grades of the elementary schools. 

Sec. % 5. That all States, Territories^- and the District of Columbia 
accepting these funds shall provide other funds with which to pay the 
cost of providing the necessary lands and buildings, and to pay the 
cost of all instruction in secondary schools, normal schools, and State 
colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts in such other and general 
studies as shall complete well-rounded courses as provided in this Act, 
the main purposes of which are to give vocational as well as general 
preparation for agriculture, the trades and industries, and home mak¬ 
ing, or for the preparation of teachers in these subjects, suited to the 
needs of the respective sections and communities of the United States; 
and from and after the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and sixteen, there shall in no case be allotted, under the terms of this Act, 
to any school, college, course of study, or for any other purpose contem¬ 
plated by this Act, more money than is supplied therefor by the State. 

Sec. 7 6. That all printed matter issued from agricultural colleges 
for the furtherance of extension work as provided for in this Act shall 
be transmitted in the mails of the JJnited States and dependencies 
free of charge for postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster 
General may from time to time prescribe. 

Sec. St 7. That the sums hereby appropriated to the respective 
States and- Te rritefies and the District of Columbia for the mainte¬ 
nance of instruction in agriculture, trades and industries, and home 
economics, for branch agricultural exper i m ent stations, for the prepa¬ 
ration of teachers, and for college extension departments shall be 
annually paid, one-half on the first day of July of each year and one- 
half on the first day of January of each year, by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, upon the requisition of the Secretary of the Interior, out of 
the Treasury of the United States to the treasurer or other officer 
duly appointed by the governing boards or departments of the schools, 
colleges, and experim ent brancli stations designated by State law to 
receive the same: Provided, That in any State there shall be no more 
than one State governing board or department thus designated for 
the eetfe gc ext e n sien-wnfh colleges, agricultural secondary schools, 
and branch experim e n t stations, not more than one State board or 
department for State normal schools, and not more than one State 
board or department for public secondary schools. 



74 


VOCATIONAL, EDUCATION. 


Sec. 9 8. That if any portion of the money allotted under this Act 
shall by any action or contingency be diminished or lost or misapplied 
it shall be replaced by said State, Tereiteyfy or the District of Colum¬ 
bia, and until so replaced no subsequent appropriation shall be allotted 
or paid to such State, Tereitevyy or the District of Columbia: Pro¬ 
vided, That no portion of said money shall be applied, directly or 
indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, 
or rental of any building or buildings, nor to the purchase or rental 
of lands. 

Sec. 40 9. That it shall be the duty of each institution receiving 
funds under this Act annually, on or before the first day of February, 
to make to the governor of the State or Terri tory or to the Commission¬ 
ers of the District of Columbia, in which it is located, a full and detailed 
report of its operations, including a statement of all receipts and ex¬ 
penditures from all sources for these purposes, a copy of which shall 
be sent to the Secretary of the Interior, a copy to the Secretary of 
Agriculture, and a copy to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and 
on or before the first day of September in each year to make to the 
Secretary of the Interior, on blanks provided by him for that purpose, 
a detailed statement of receipts and expenditures of money under 
this Act during the preceding fiscal year. 

Sec. 44 10. That the Secretary of the Interior, with the assistance 
of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor, is hereby charged with the proper administration of this law. 
That he shall annually ascertain whether the institutions receiving 
the benefits of this Act are using the funds granted them in accord¬ 
ance with the terms of this Act; that on or before the first day of 
July in each year, after this Act becomes operative, he shall certify 
to the Secretary of the Treasury as to each State and—TerHfce^ 
and the District of Columbia whether it has complied with the 
provisions of this Act and is entitled to receive its share of the allot¬ 
ments herein provided for colleges, schools, and e x perime nt branch 
stations under this Act, and the amounts which each institution is 
entitled to receive for the respective purposes named in this Act. 
If the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold a certificate from any 
State, Territory^- or the District of Columbia, for the whole or any 
part of its allotment, the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported 
to the President, and the amount involved shall be kept separately 
in the Treasury as a special fund until the close of the next Congress 
in order that the State, TerHtery^ or the District or Columbia may, if 
it shall so desire, appeal to Congress from the determination of the 
Secretary of the Interior. If the next Congress shall not direct such 
sum to be paid it shall be covered into the Treasury. He shall also 
make an annual report to Congress on the receipts and expenditures, 
and on the work of the schools and colleges to which allotments are 
made under this Act, and also whether the appropriation of any 
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia has been withheld, and 
if so, the reasons therefor, and he shall make one or more reports to 
Congress not later than June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and four¬ 
teen concerning the organization of vocational education as 

provided for in this Act. 

Sec. 4 £11. That this Act shall take effect immediately on its 
passage. 


VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 


75 


Amend? title so*as toAead: 

“A bill l to cooperate with the States in encouraging instruction in 
agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics in sec¬ 
ondary schools; in preparing teachers for these vocational courses 
in State colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; in maintaining 
instruction in these vocational subjects in State normal schools; in 
maintaining extension departments in State colleges of agriculture 
and the mechanic arts; and to appropriate money and regulate its 
expenditure.’ ’ 


o 


LB Je 12 















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